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COLLECTION 


REPORT 


or    THK 


SECRETARY  OF  WAR. 


Confederate    States  of  America,      1 

War  Department,  \ 

Richmond,  Nov.  26.  1863.    > 

To  His  Excellency  Jefferson  Davis,  President,    7.  S,  *4. 

Sir  :   I  have  the  honor  to   submit  the  following  report : 

During  the  past  year,  the  war  has  raged  with   increased  violence, 
and  on  more  extended  arena.     From  central  Pennsylvania  to  southern. 
Texas,  the  shock  of  arms  has  been  felt  in  many  battles,  on  a  grand 
scale,  and  in  numberless  engagements,  varying  from   the  conflic 
thousands  to  the  skirmishes  of  a  few. 

Such  extended  warfare,  as  was  almost  inevitable,  from  the  superior 
numbers  and  more  abundant  resources  of  the  enemy,  has  been 
chequered  by  some  reverses,  as  well  as  illustrated  by  not  a  few  bril- 
liant victories  and,glorious  achievemc 

These  events  are,  at  the  same  time,  too  vivid  in  remembrance,  and 
too  near  in  occurrence,  to  make  needful  or  appropriate  their  full  re- 
cital. To  illustrate  the  sustained  glory  of  our  arms,  it  will  fully  suffice 
to  retail,  in  the  east,  the  victory,  against  all  odds  of  numbers  and 
position,  at  Chancellorsville,  the  capture  of  Winchester,  the  invasion 
of  Pennsylvania,  closing  with  the  grand,  but  indecisive  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  where  the  glorious  successes  of  two  days'  combat  barely 
failed  on  the  third  of  being  crowned  by  a  crushing  defeat  to  the  enemy, 
and  inflicted  such  heavy  loss  as  enabled  our  gallant  army,  with  many  of 
the  ends  of  the  movement  accomplished,  to  retire  unassailed  aud  de- 
fiant within  our  limits. 

In  the  South,  the  complete  repulse,  at  Charleston,  in  the  spring,  of 
the  grand  attack  by  6ea,  made  with  the  plated  ships  and  guus  of  un- 
precedented   calibre  and    range,  which    the    arrogance    of   the    foe 


imagined  must  overpower  all  resistance,  has  been  followed,  in  the  re- 
newed attack  conducted  now  by  land  and  Bea,  by  the  bloody  repulse 
it  Wagner  and  Samter,  which  last,  reduced  to  a  pile  of  crumbling 
ruins,  yet  harbors  resources  and  heroic  men,  that  keep  in  distant  awe 
impotent  malignity  the  enemy,  with  nil  his  ingenuity  of  land  and 
. i aval  war. 

In  the  far  west,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  the  valor  and  patriotism  of 

ir    oldiers  have  been  Bignalized  by  tcbierements,  which,  thotfgh  on 

less  grand  acale,  lose  not  in  glory  by  comparison  with  any  triumphs 

>f  the   war.      If  we  have,  then,   to  report  the  loss  of  the   Arkansas 

and  the  repulse  at  Helena,  we  have   to  glory  in  the  hard    fought 

tattle  of  Prarie  Grove;   at  the  skillful  evasion  of  an  overpowering 

"•'orce  in   lower  Louisiana  ;   the  steady  resistance  and  judicious  stra- 

that  enabled  a  force  wholly  inadequate  to  a  direct  encounter,  yet 

o  harass,  pursue  and  finally  to  expel  the  hordes  of  the  enemy.     Then 

it  the  brilliant  success  of  Brashear  City,  Milligan's  Bend,  and  many 

linor  affairs  that  asserted  again  the  supremacy  of  our  arms  in  western 

Louisiana. 

Texas,  meantime,  has  been  preserved  intact,  feeling  the  step  of  the 
foe  only  to  expel  him  with  shame  and  blood  in  the  repulses  at  Galves- 
ron  and  Sabine  Pass,  which,  for  the  results  obtained  by  limited  means, 
.aave  been  rarely  matched  in  history. 

The  gravest  reverses  of  the  year  have  been  sustained  by  us  in  Missis- 
;ppi,  and  .resulted  in  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson  with 
;heir  garrisons;  in  the  partial  command,  I  y  the  enemy,  of  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  and  the  temporary  evacution  of  Jackson,  the  capital  of 
rhe  State,  by  our  remaining  forces.  Yet,  these  were,  to  the  enemy, 
bloody  acquisitions,  and  to  us  errors  not  unredeemed  by  much  of  glory 
..nd  vengeance.  Port  Hudson  and  Vicksburg,  by  the  gallantry  and 
constancy  of  their  defence,  fully  sustained  the  renown  of  their  pre- 
vious deeds  ;  and  the  repeated  efforts  of  the  vastly  superior  forces  of 
(he  enemy  to  snatch  their  prizes  by  violence,  ended  only  in  fearful 
loss  and  shameful  rout.  Our  brave  soldiers  succumbed  only  to  priva- 
tion and  exhaustion.  And  whatever  may  have  been  the  loss  to  the 
,ountry,  they,  at  least,  lost  not  honor. 

The  campaign  in  Mississippi  was  certainly  disastrous ;  and  with  the 
forces  and  resources  collected  in  the  State,  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the 
impression,  that  the  disasters  were  not  enevitable.  Their  causes,  and 
vhether  attributable  to  any  deficiencies  in  prescience,  skill  or  valor  on 
the  part  of  either  commanders  or  their  troops,  it  is  felt  to  be  inappro- 
]  riate  here  to  discuss,  as  under  a  just  sense  of  what  is  due  to  all  con- 
cerned, as  well  as  to  the  Confederacy,  a  court  of  inquiry  has  been  in- 
stituted to  make  full  investigation  of  the  whole  campaign.  It  met; 
i  ut  its  session  has,  in  consequence  of  military  events  occurring  in 
ils  vicinity  and  demanding  the  presence  of  witnesses  and  judges  at 
other  points  of  duty,  been  temporarily  suspended.  It  is,  however,  ex- 
pected soon  to  resume  and  complete  its  enquiries.  Justice  requires 
judgement  to  be  suspended  by  all,  until,  from  such  acknowledged  au- 
thority, facts  and  conclusions  can  be  attained. 

These  events   caused  great  exultation  and  renewed  confidence  to 


Xh.a  enemy,  who  imagined  they  had  sundered  the  Confederacy,  and 
secured  the  unlimited  command  and  free  navigation  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  the  great  conduit  of  western  trade,  while  readily  a  corres- 
ponding shock  of  despondency  and  foreboding  of  the  consequences  to 
ensue  from  the  capture  of  so  many  brave  soldiers,  and  the. loss  of 
command  over  the  river,  and  the  means  of  ready  communication  with 
the  west,  affected  the  public  mind  of  the  Confederacy. 

As  results  develop  themselves,  the  exultation  and  the  depression 
are  found  to  have  been  alike  exaggerated.  The  gallant  soldiers  cap- 
tured, after  brief  furloughs,  having,  by  exchanges,  declared  nut  of 
the  excess  of  prisoners  before  80  largely  made  by  us,  been  released 
from  their  paroles,  are,  for  the  most  part,  already  reorganized  and 
equipped,  and  now  stand  ready,  with  their  approved  valor  and  con- 
stancy, to  meet  the  invader  of  their  country. 

The  communication  with  the  trans-Mississippi,  while  rendered  some- 
what mote  precarious  and  insecure,  is  found  by  no  means  cut  off,  or 
even  seriously  endangered. 

This  cannot  well  be  otherwise,  when  it  is  recollected  how  difficult 
it  is  to  guard,  by  gunboats  or  troops,  hundreds  of  miles  of  river  bank, 
if  even  securely  possessed  by  the  enemy,  and  how  wholly  impractica- 
ble when  on  both  sides,  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  distance,  the 
possession  is  with  our  own  troops  or  people.  Besides,  the  resources 
of  the  trans-Mississippi  are  such  as  to  make  it  self-sustaining  ;  and 
against  any  f>rce  which  the  enemy,  while  engaged  in  their  desperate 
struggle  with  the  States  on  this  side,  can  spare  for  attack  on  those 
beyond,  it  is  not  extravagant  to  say,  that  they  have  better  means  of 
resistance,  and  greater  assurance  of  final  success  than  the  rest  of  the 
Confederacy.  This  department,  too,  in  view  of  the  contingency  of 
fusing  com  in  and  of  that  river,  has  been  endeavoring  to  aid  the  self- 
sustaining  capacities  of  that  section,  by  the.  establishment  of  works 
for  the  production  of  all  supplies  needful  for  the  maintenance  and  ef- 
ficiency of  its  armies.  To  these  considerations  may  be  added,  that  a 
general,  among  the  ablest,  the  most  zealous  and  judicious  tbe  Confed- 
eracy (an  boast,  is  happily  entrusted  with  the  command  and  improve- 
ment of  their  resources,  and  enjoys  the  full  confidence  of  the  go,  .  n- 
inent,  the  people  and  the  army.  With  circumstances  thus  favo 
the  people  of  the  trans-Mississippi  States  hive  only  to  manifest  the 
energy,  ■  ■  m  1  devotion  to  the  common  cause  of  the  Confederacy 

which  have   signalized  them  in  the  past,  to  dissipate,  as  well  among 
as  their  more  eastern  brethren,  needless  apprehensions. 

The  hopes  of  the  enemy  have  proven  more  illusive  than  the  fore- 
bodings of  our  people.  The  Mississippi  liver  is  not  opened  to  them 
for  the  purposes  of  trade  or  travel. 

Without  a  stronghold  on  the  river  where  heavy  guns  may  be  placed 
or  defended,  we  may  not  debar  passage  to  their  vessels  of  war.  But 
with  the  command  of  long  stretches  of  the  river  hank,  and  read 
Cess  to  nearly  all  parts,  it  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  we  allowed  se- 
curity or  impunity  to  their  boats  of  trade  or  passage.  The  river  is 
nowhere  so  wide  that  sharpshooters,  even,  cannot  prove  formidable,  and- 
oattcries  of  light  artillery,  sustained  by  small  detachments  of  cavalry, 

H~ZO  9  95 


moy  almost  absolutely  command  its  channel.     The  frequent  bends  of 
•   •   •  pite  all  side  defences,  with   their 

boilers  and  machinery,  to  a  raking  lire  and  the  wooded  coverts  that 
oany  miles  i  f  its  banks,  give  facilities  and  efficiency  to  such 
•k._  Above  all,  except  as  a  mere  Outlet  to  the  gulf,  for 
did  advantages  of  trade,  which  have  been  :d  in  the  past, 

now  as  longingly  anticipated  by  Che  f  the  Federal 

i   the   northern  pi,  and  its   tributaries,   the  river 

roust  have,  in  its  tower  course,  a  Friendly  peopl  i  d  in  the  avo- 

and  productive  industry,  and  i,  ■■dated 

>n,  occupied  only  by  men  maddened  by  accumulated 
r  -i'or  every  means  and   opportunity  of  retribution*. 
The   Folly  ol  these   rain   ■  tions  must   Boon   be  acknowledged, 

and  .  atribute  to  dissipate  the  wilder  delusion  that  the  Confede- 

racy can  he  subjugated,  and  the  ends  of  unity  and  peace  he  obtained 
by  rioh  nee  and  oppression.' 

On  the  other  hand,  the  people  of  the  Confederacy  have  been  enabled: 
to  realize,  how  little,  v.ith  courage  and'  constancy  on  their  part,  their 
fate  is  determined  by  even  signal  reverses,  and  by  the  loss  of  single 
strongholds,  however  relatively  important.  While  material  injuries 
are  freely  admitted  to  have  resulted  to  the  Confederacy  from  the  disas- 
ters in  Mississippi,  yet  some  real  benefits  have  undoubtedly  accrued 
from  the  compulsory  abandonment  of  fixed  points  of  defence  on  the 
river.  In  view  of  the  superior  numbers  of  the  enemy,  and  the  larger 
appliances  of  war  enjoyed  by  them,  the  necessity  of  defending  special 
Btrategic  points  may  justly  be  deprecated,  since  it  retains  stationary 
a  largo  force,  and  oifers  a  wager  of  battle  against'  all  odds,  in  which 
the  result  is  less  to  be  determined  by  valor  and  skill,  than  by  accu- 
mulated numbers  and  the  improved  armaments  of  modern  warfare,  in 
which  alone,  circumstances  gives  them  unquestionable  advantage.  In 
the  extent  of  our  territory,  and  the  absence  of  vital  centres,  the  mo- 
bility of  our  troops  give3  for  our  defence  advantages  mora  than  com- 
pensatory, and  is  therefore  ever  to  be  preferred. 

The  loss  of  Port 'Hudson  and  Vicksburg  has,  on  our  side,  libera' 
for  general  operations  in  the  fiel  1,  a  large  army,  whilo  it  requires  the 
enemy  to  maintain,  cooped   up>  inactive,  in   positions  insalubrious  to 
their  soldiers,  considerable  detachments  from  their  forces. 

Nor,  in  a  country  not  accessible  by  inland  waters,  where  their  gun- 
boats can  penetrate,  are  they  enabled,  from  their  garrisoned  [joints,  to 
establish  control  or  dominion  over  any  extended  district.  This  is  il- 
lustrated in  Mississippi,  where,  after  having  overrun,  amid  the  dismay 
inspired  by  our  reverses  there,  a  large  proportion  of  the  Stale,  they 
have  now  been. constrained  to  release  and  send  off  their  forces,  until 
they  control  little  more  than  the  ground  their  garrisons  rest  on,  while 
the  experience  of  their  recent  ravages,  and  the  insulting  presence  of 
a  hated  foe  on  their  soil,  are  rousing  to  fiercer  indignation  and  resist- 
ance, the  people  of  the  State. 

In  Tennessee  the  campaign  has  been  conducted  with  more  varied 
fortunes.  The  deficiency  of  resources  in  men  and  previsions,  rather 
than  reverses  in  battle,  during  the  summer,  compelled  the  withdrawal 


of  our  army  from  middle  Tennessee  to  the  South  side  of  the  Tennes- 
see river,  where  for  a  long  time,  they  held  at  bay  the  superior  forces 
of  the  enemy.  At  length,  with  large  reinforcements  and  the  combi- 
nation of  a  formidable  army  advancing  from  Kentucky,  the  enemy 
moved  on  the  one  side  to  possess  east  Tennessee,  and  ©n  the  other  to  cut 
off  pur  larger  army  under  Gen  Bragg.  The  necessity  pf  concentrating 
3  to  encounter  the  main  attack,  left  east  Tennessee,  with  feeble 
defence,  to  rely  chiefly  on  the  stronghold  that  guarded  the  main  pass 
of  the  mountains.  Unaccountably,  and  under  circumstances,  which 
would  force  suspicion  of  cowardice  or  treachery,  but  for  the  hope  of 
satisfactory  explanation  from  the  commander,  now  a  prison  lr  to  the 
enemy,  this  almost  impregnable  post  was  surrendered  without  a  strug- 
gle In  consequence,  east  Tennessee  came  easily  into  the  possession 
of  the  enemy  ;  but  when  their  invading  forces,  attempting  to  press 
their  advantage,  advanced  towards  southwest  Virginia,  they  voe 
successfully  encountered  and  repelled  by  our  forces  in  that  quarter. 
Meantime,  the  grander  aim  of  the  enemy  to  cut  off  the  army  of  Gen. 
Bragg  had  been  evaded  by  a  quick  withdrawal  towards  his  base,  and 
having  received  considerable  reinforcements  from  the  veteran  army  of 
northern  Virginia,  General  Bragg  advanced  in  turn  on  his  pursuers. 
Once  again,  the  superior  prowess  of  our  arms  was  established  on  the 
bloody  field  of  Chickamauga,  in  what  ranks  among  the  grandest  vic- 
tories of  the  war.  Its  immediate  effects  were  to  relieve  all  the  more 
southern  States  from  the  dread  of  invasion  and  ravage,  and  to  hold 
invested  under  privation  and  suffering  the  dismayed  and  shattered 
remnants  of  the  enemy's  grand  army  of  the  West.  Its  ulterior 
results  yet  await  development,  and  may  bring  recovery  of  the  soil  and 
deliverance  to  the  people  of  a  most  importaut  portion  of  Tennessee. 

From  the  achievements  of  our  army  the  transition  is  natural  to   its 
numbers,  condition,  and  prospects 

The  labors,  perils  and  sacrifices  of  the  past  year  could  not  fail  to 
exact  losses  from  its  glorious  ranks.  Time  ami  the  occasion  forbid 
more  than  a  passing  allusion  to  the  heroic  dead,  whoso  deeds  and 
their  memory  constitute  the  glory  of  the  present,  as  they  will  the 
lest  inheritance  of  future  generations.  To  the  foremost  of  the 
illustrious  throng,  resting  in  the  immortallity  of  assured  fame',  more 
special  reference  may  be  demanded  by  just  appreciation  of  his  heroic 
qualities  and  eminent  services,  and  by  the  saddened  hearts  of  the 
people  of  the  Confederacy,  who  mourn  the  death  cf  their  chosen 
champion,  stricken  by  "an  accursed  chance,"  in  the"  hour  when  the 
prowess  of  a  stroke  of  daring 'and  generalship,  just  accomplished,  had 
opened  the  way  to  crowning  victory.  Without  disparagement  to 
Others,  it  may  be  safely  said,  he  had  become,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
.  emphatically  "  the  hero  of  the  war."  Around  him 
red  with  peculiar  warmth,  their  gratitude,  their  aff  ci  d  .  and 
their  hopes.  His  deeds  had  approved  him  a  warrior  of  the  hi 
order,  as  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life,  in  peace  as  in  Avar,  had  Bhown 
him  the  very  type  and  model  of  the  Christian  and  hero.  From  the 
first  battle  of  Manassas,  when,  by  his  firmness  and  invincible  will, 
he  earned  the  title  now  indissolubly  connected  with  his  name,  down» 


to  the  battle  of  Chancellorsvillc,  -where  his  dauntless  valor  struck  its 
final  and  mot  decisive  blow,   he  was   identified   with  almost  every 
important  movement  and  brilliant  victory  in  Virginia.     lie  had  lived 
long  enough  to  roup  a  full   harvest  of  fame,   and   to  have  become  an 
example  to  his  countrymen  and  the  admiration  of  the  civilized  world. 
But  to  the  Confederacy   his  loss  is  felt   to  be,   not  only   irreparable, 
the  memory   of  bis  deeds,   and  the  spirit  he   inspired  glow 
the   hearts  of  its  armies  to   animate   to  noble  emulation  and 
kindred  deeds  of  valor,  patriotism,   and   self-devotion.     The  blood  of 
such  a   martyr  to  the  cause   of  southern  liberty  and  independence 
it  to  the  faith  and  devotion  of  all  its  defenders,  and  consti- 
tutes a  resistless  appeal  to  the  sympathies  of  mankind  as  to  the  justice 
of  God,  against  the  foul  aggressions  of  our  invaders. 

Our  army  may  be  less  in  the  number  of  effectives  present,"  but,  in 
every  other  respect,  is  believed  to  be  superior  to  its  condition  at  the 
close  of  the  last  year.  The  men  are  more  veteran,  indurated  to  all 
the  hardships  and  exposures  of  a  soldiers'  life,  familiar  with  danger,  and 
confident  in  themselves  and  their  officers.  Their  discipline  is  improved, 
and  while  their  fiery  valor  is  unabated,  their  firmness  and  constancy 
may,  under  all  circumstances,  be  more  confidently  relied  on. 

The  officers,  through  the  tests  to  which  they  have  been  exposed,  and 
the  purgation  effected  by  the  aid  of  examining  boards,  have  been 
rendered  more  efficient  and  capable.  Altogether,  whether  t'.ie  char- 
acter, valor, -efficiency,  and  morale  of  the  men  and  officers  be  regarded, 
it  is  but  simple  justice  to  them  to  assert,  that  they  have  never  been 
surpassed,  if  ever  equalled,  by  any  like  number  of  troops,  in  the 
records  of  modern  warfare.  It  only  remains,  that  their  numbers 
should  be  increased  and  kept  up  to  the  standards  required  by  their 
organizations,  to  give  assurance  of  their  invincibility,  and  the  early 
triumph  of  our  cause.  It  becomes  important  to  consider  the  sources 
whence  such  increase  of  numbers  may  be  drawn. 

The  first  means  to  be  adopted  naturally,  is  to  bring  back  to  the 
army  the  large  and  undue  proportion  of  men,  who,  from  the  provis- 
ional character  of  the  army  from  the  vicinity  and  temptations  of  their 
homes,  under  the  trials  of  early  service,  and  in  a  more  relaxed  state 
of  discipline,  have  deserted,  and  straggled  from  their  colors. 

The  effective  force  of  the  army  is  generally  a  little  more  than  a  half, 
never  two-thirds,  of  the  numbers  in  the  ranks.  From  the  absentees, 
considerable  allpwance  is  doubtless  to  be  made  for  those  disabled  by 
wounds  and  sickness,  to  whom,  as  the  law  makes  as  yet  no  adequate 
provision,  discharges  have  not  been  granted.  It  may  yet  be  safely 
assumed  that  one  third  of  our  army,  on  an  average,  are  absent  from 
their  posts,  and  may,  with  due  efforts,  be  returned.  The  best  means 
for  the  accomplishment  of  this  end,  it  is  believed,  will  be  found  in 
some  agencies,  to  be  added  to  the  service  for  the  enrollment  and  col- 
lection of  conscripts.  They  will  be  more  naturally  suggested  in  con- 
nection with  the  consideration  which  will  be  given  to  that  branch  of 
the  service. 

The  classes  liable  to  conscription  constitute  the  natural  aliment  for 
the  support  and  increase  of  the  army.     During  the  most  trying  period 


of  the  past  campaign,  whon  reverses  aid  captures  so  greatly  dimin- 
ished our  forces  in  one  important  department,  it  was  deemed  expedient 
to  subject  to  the  call  for  conscription  those  between  the  ages  of  forty  and 
forty-five.  Thus,  the  male  population  between  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  forty-five,  with  the  exception  of  such,  as  under  existing  laws,  arc 
exempt,  or  have  put  in  substitutes,  are  liable  to  military  service.  I: 
is  difficult  to  give,  with  accuracy,  the  number,  who,  under  the  past, 
action  of  the  conscript,  law,  have  been  brought  into  our  armies,  and 
still  more,  those  who  yet  remain  to  be  called  into  the  Held.  The  law. 
it  will  be  recollected,  gives  to  all  the  privilege,  before  being  enr 
of  volunteering  into  the  companies  they  may  prefer.  And  as  calls 
have  been  made,  a  large  prop  ution  of  those,  who,  under  it,  have  comt , 
into  service,  have  availed  themselves  of  this  privilege,  and  tnus  dk 
not  come  under  the  cognizance  of  the  conscribing  officers,  or  on  tlu- 
lists  of  enrolment.  On  the  nearest  approximate  estimate  that  can  he 
made, -it  is  believed,  that  to  every  one  assigned,  there  have  been  three 
volunteers.  The  number  assigned  during  the  past  year  in  Virginia, 
amounts  to  some  five  thousand,  and  hence,  the  addition  to  the  army 
from  that  State,  would  be  some  twenty  thousand  men,  supposing,  as 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt,  that 'other  States  have  done  as  well,  some 
eighty  to  one  hundred  thousand  men  should  hjvve  been  added  to  our 
forces.  Yet,  with  so  serious  an  addition,  our-  armies  have  not  fully 
maintained  their  strength  in  numbers.  This  affords  a  startling,  bur, 
it  is  feared,  not  van  incorrect  view  of  the  waste  by  sickness,  casual- 
ties of  battle,  captures,  desertions  and  discharges. 

The  resources  of  supply,  from   collection   of  deserters,    and   from 
conscription,  must  evidently  diminish  as  the  service  'becomes   more 
active,  and  the  numbers  are  exhausted;   and  it  cannot  be  confidently 
expected  that  they  can,  during  another  year,  increase,  or  even  main- 
tain our  army  in  its   present   numbers.     Yet   the   enemy  is   making 
every  effort,  and   scrupling   at  no  means,  to   raise   to   overwhelming 
numbers  his  already  superior  forces.     One  draft   for   three   hundrec 
thousand  men  is  scarcely  finished,  with  results,  indeed,  but  little  sal 
isfactory  to  him,  before  another  call  for  a  like  number  is  made.      The 
army  of  the  Confederate  States,  jt  is  clear,  must  be,  at   leas 
tained,  and,  if  practicable,  even    increased.      Our  final    triumph    and 
independence  must  else  be   precarious,  and   consequences  worse  thai 
ever  visted  a  conquered  people,  may  be  our  hateful  and  enduring  lot. 
All  means  within  our  reach  to  swell  our  armies  should  unhes 
be  employed. 

The  able-bodied  men  between  eighteen  and  forty-five  years  of 
constitute,  naturally,  the  active  force  for  the  field,  and  would,  pi 
bly,  suffice,  and  be  as  numerous  as  the  means  and  products  of  the 
country  would  equip  and  sustain.  ir  seems  to  have  been  the  scheme- 
of  the  conscript  law,  that  all  such  should  be  so  devoted  to  activ. 
service;  but  the  provision  allowing  substitutes,  and  the  exemption 
law,  have  exonerated  considerable  numbers  and  classes.  Both,  it  is 
submitted,  should  be  repealed. 

The  law  allowing  substitutes  has  proved  a  means  for  depleting  the 
army,  while  it  has  done  more  than  any  single*  measure  to  excite  dis- 


content  and  impatience  under  service  among  the  soldiers.  The 
persons  received  aa  substitutes  have  proved,  for  the  most  part,  wholly 
unreliable;  have,  in  many  cases,  >nly  entered  to  desert,  and  often, 
elsewhere,  again  to  make  sale  of  th  »,  with  a  view  to  like  shame- 

ful evasion  ;  while  the  fact  tlitt  the  wealthy  cou'd  thus  indirectly 
purchase  liberation  from  the  toils  and  dangers  necessary  for  the 
defence  of  the  very  means  that  gave  them  the  privilege,  and  of  the 
country  itself,  naturally  |  e  less  fortunate  and  poorer 

son  tent. 

The  men  t!  -rated,  ti  .  from   the  advantages  of  posi- 

I  learning  they    I  og   the  most   spirited  and 

.  ?hrunk    rather  from   the   hardships 

than  The  law  is  deservedly  regretted  and 

ted    by  all   acquainted   with    its   operation.      It   is   earnestly 

recommended  that  it  be  al  once  repealed,  and  that'all  who  have  enjoyed 

jain  subjected  to  the  sacred  duty  of  defending  in 

arms,  their  property,  their  liberties, and  their  country.     No  objection 

.  !  justice  precludes  this,  while  every  consideration  of  policy 

equity  commands  it. 

The  liberty  to  put  in  i  substitute,  as  it  was  given  by  act  of  Con- 

larli   and  constitutionally,  he  abrogated  by  the  same 

instrumentality.     There  has  luen  no  compact,   as  has   been    alleged, 

bctv.  loldier  or  conscript,  exempting  himself  by  putting  in  a 

substitute,  and  the  government.      It  is  nothing  more  than  a  privilege, 

which  f i  ■  or  policy,  the  government  has  acorded  to  him  ;  and 

I  complaining  brogation,  he  ought  to  be  grateful   for 

lion,  which  he  has  been  allowed  to  obtain      But 

I,  that  there    is  a   contract   existing,   if  not  'between 

;.t  and  the  principal,  yet,  at  least,  between  the  principal 

and  the  substitute,  of  which,  though  made  on  the  faith  of  an  existing 

law,  the  former  loses  all  benefit  when  he  is  reclaimed  to  service. 

Were  this  the  correct  view,  it  would  be  better  for   the  government 
it  should  return  to  the  principal  a  fair  proportion  of  the  sum  ex- 
•  1  by  him,  in  obtaining  his  substitute,  in  all  cases  in  which  such 
.  ■   I  to  his  engagement,  and  not   (heated   the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  service  to  which  the  contract  bound  him.  than  to  allow 
the  further  exoneration  of  the  principal. 

.-  in  reality,  the  just  view  of  the  matter,  seems  to  be,  that  when- 
a  call  is  mad<  rtain    prescribed   classes   for  military   duty, 

betitution  only  exempts  from  that  call,  and  neither 
,i  to,  liberate  tho principal  from  the  paramount  duty,  ever 
incumbent  <ui  every  citizen,  as  a  patriot  soldier,  to  defend  his  country. 
The  principal  when  called,  by  having  bis  substitute  accepted,  is  ex- 
onerated from  service  under  that  call  only;  and  if  he  enjoys  that,  has 
ibe  full  consideration  for  the  contract  he  has  made,  whether  with  the 
government  or  his  substitute,  he  falls  back  into  the  body  of  citizens, 
and  becomes  one  of  the  militia  of  the  country,  liable  like  all  others 
to  be  summoned  on  other  exigencies,  and  upon  further  calls  to  mili- 
tary service.  In  his  exemption  from  service  under  the  special  call 
which  his  substitute  meets,  he  has  enjoyed  his  full  privilege,   or  if  it 


be  contract,  lias  received  his  stipulated  consideration  ;  a  further  call 
may  not  be  made;  future  exigencies  may  not  demand  more  levies  for 
the  army;  peace  may  be  obtianed,  and  then  his  exemption  will  have 
proved  complete,  and  have  been  gained  by  the  substitution.  He,  fall- 
ing back  into  the  militia,  as  ever?  citizen  liable  to  military  duty,  takes 
hia  chances  of  future  calls  and  Future  necessities,  lie  is  subject  to  be 
again  called,  whenever,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Congress,  having 
power  to  determine,  the  service  of  himself  an  I  any  others  is  ne 
ry  for  the  public  defence.  Such  need,  it  is  submitted,  now  exists, 
and  the  class  of  principals,  as  well  as  all  others  constituting  the 
militia,  being  trailer  the  paramount  obligation,  neither  to  be  evaded 
or  bargained  against,  of  military  service  to  the  State,  may  be  sum- 
moned to  the  field.  A  man  can  no  more,  by  privilege  granted  or 
contract  made,  escape  the  paramount  obligation  of  defending  his  coun- 
try from  invasion  and  ruin,  than  by  promise  or  purchase  of  absolu- 
tion, he  can  evade  the  duty  of  obedience  to  God.  This  view  of  the 
right  of  the  Government  to  claim  such  service  is  submitted,  rather  to 
remove  scruples  which  have  been  imagined  to  exist  on  the  part  of 
Congress  in  authorising  .the  call,  than  to  obviate  difficulties  to  be  an- 
ticipated from  the  class  of  principals.  It  is  confidently  believed  their 
courage,  zeal  and  patriotism  will  disdain  all  paltry  quibbling  to  evade 
their  country's  call,  and  that  by  prompt  response  in  that  country's 
need,  will  they  manifest,  their  appreciation  of  their  own  highest  duty, 
and  their  alarcity  to  meet  whatever  of  peril  or  sacrifie  it  may  entail. 

No  records  exist  which  will  furnish  the  precise  number  of  principals 
who  may  thus  be  recalled  to  service.  The  best  conjectural  computation 
places  the  number  throughout  the  Confederacy,  at  not  less,  certainly, 
than  fifty  thousand  men,  of  an  age  and  class  calculated  to  make  ap- 
proved soldiers. 

The  classes  covered  by  the  exemtion  law,  may  also,  it  is  believed, 
be  advantageously  abridged.  The  aim  of  thA  law  seems  to  have  been 
to  exonerate  only, a  suilicient  number  of  experts  in  various  piofes- 
sions,  trades  and  mechanical  pursuits  to  meeet  the  requirements  of 
society,  but  as  the  mode  of  effecting  this,  in  various  instances,  all  of 
il  trades  or  pursuits  have  been  exempted,  the  consequence  has 
been,  that  a  larger  number  of  persons,  more  in  various  localities 
than  are  needed  by  the  requirements  of  the  country,  have  been  re- 
lieved from  service.  This  has  caused  some  natural  dissatisfaction 
among  those  whose  services  are  exacted  in  the  field,  as  well  as  it 
lias  operated  to  the  diminution  of  the  numbers  liable  to  conscription. 
A  wiser  course,  it  is  believed,  would  be  to  rend  r  all  within  the  pre- 
scribed ages,  capable  of  bearing  anus,  subject  to  conscription,  and 
allow  details  to  be  granted  from  the  professions  and  mechanical  pur- 
suits to  the  extent  that  may  be  ry  for  the  industrial  wants  of 
society.  A  considerable  number  might  thus  be  added  to  the  army 
without  unduly  impairing  the  i  y  supply  of  skilled  labor  for 
the  needs  of  the  country. 

Another  means  of  replenishing  the  army,  would  be  by  lessening 
or  withdrawing  the  details  which,  from  time  to  time,  have  been  made 
from  the  army  and  from  conscripts,  for  the  works  and  various  opera- 


10 

tions  of  the  Government.  It  has  been  the  policy  and  earnest  effort 
of  this  department  to  make  them  as  limited  as  possible  ;  but  still  they 
have,  under  the  unceai-ing  demands  of  all  branches  of  the  service 
Bwollen  to  a  number  that  constitutes  a  serious  abstraction  from  the 
1  ise  of  the  number  thus  required,  has  been  tho 

ptional  state  of  the  market  for  labor  caused  by  the  enhancement 
and  the  paucity  of  laborers.  The  comparatively  few  men 
who  are  al  command  for  hire,  claim,  and  can  obtain  wages  that  almost 
lade  their  employment  by  the  Government,  and  besides  as  the 
publi  be  carried  on  by  laborers  assembled  in  consid- 

erable numbers,  and  in  many  instances,  as  at  mines,  salt-petre  caves, 
and  the  like,  at  distant  points,  the  men  above  conscript  age  having, 
for  the  most  part,  families  and  settled  abodes  are  reluctant  to  render 
their  s  irvicos,  for  any  rewards.  The  only  remedy  that  is  seen  for 
this,  -would  be  the  extension  of  the  claim  of  service  by  Government 
to  a  greater  age,  and  allow  details  from  those  not  now  subject  to  mili- 
tary call.  Priority  would  thus  be  afforded  to  the  Government  in  the 
command  of  laborers,  and  when  it  was  thus  distinctly  recognised  by 
them  as  their  contribution  to  public  defence,  and  in  lieu  of  the  mili- 
tary service  exacted  of  them,  it  would  be  acquiesced  in  without 
itisf action. 

To  some  extent,  likewise,  the  necessity  of  details  might  be  obviated  by 
organized  system  of  impressingorengaging  the  labor  of  free  negroes 
and  slaves,  where  they  could  be  qaade  available.  The  effort  to  do  this,  by 
the  temptation  of  interests  of  owners,  has  been  generally  found  to  be 
unavailing.  In  many  of  the  Government  works,  where  the  unskilled 
of  slaves  would  be  most  available,  exposure  to  the  seductions  or 
attacks  of  the  enemy,  arc  dreaded  by  owners,  who  are  averse  to  having 
them  removed  from  their  personal  supervision  and  influence.  To 
command  Blaves,  therefore,  in  anything  like  the  number  required  for 
the  many  works  of  Government,  to  which  they  could  be  applied,  com- 
pulsion, in  some  form,  would  be  necessary, 

The  use  of  negroes  may.  likewise,  Bwell  the  number  of  men  in  arms  in 
the  held,  by  substituting  teamsters,  cooks,  and  other  camp  employees, 
who  arc  cow  largely  supplied  from  the  ranks.  This  policy  has,  here- 
tofore, met  the  approbation  of  Congress,  and  been  embodied  in  the 
act  approved  April  il.  1862.  No  provision,  however,  was  made  to 
procure  the  negroes  tor  these  offices,  and  from  the  causes  mentioned, 
although  their  utility  has  been  recognized,  they  could  not  be  obtained 
by  voluntary  engagements  of  service  or  hire  from  their  owners. 

There  may  be  difficulties  and  embarrassments  in  enforcing  the  ser- 
vice of  ilaves,  but  they  mi  overcome,  on  the  principle  of  im- 
pressing them  as  property,  or  of  requiring  contributions  from  their 
owners  of  certain  qu<  public  service,  as  has  been  done  for 
woiks  of  public  defence.  The  wickedness  and  malignity  of  our  ene- 
mies have  certainly  placed  considerable  numbers  of  negroes,  almost  of 
necessity,  at  the  control  of  our  Government.  To  favor  the  pusila- 
nimity  of  their  people,  as  well  as  the  better  to  advance  the  nefarious 
ends  of  their  unjust  warfare,  they  have  adopted  as  their  deliberate 
policy  the  employment  of  the  slaves  as  soldiers  in  their  army.     They 


11 

have  already  formed  numerous  regiments  of  the  slaves  they  have 
seduced  or  forced  from  their  masters,  and  the  Statement  has  been 
boastfully  made  in  their  public  prints  that  they  have  already  some 
thirty  thousand  negro  troops  in  arms.  It  is  now  an  ascertained  fact, 
that,  as  they  ovcrun  any  portion  of  our  territory,  they  draw  off — often 
by  compulsion — the  most  efficient  male  slaves,  and  place  them  in  their 
negro  regiments;  and  when  they  ha^?  established  any  where  a  tem- 
porary occupation,  they  practice  a  regular  system  of  compulsory  re- 
cruiting from  the  slaves  within  their  reach.  Not  merely,  therefore, 
for  the  purpose  of  preserving  to  the  Confederacy  this  valuable  labor, 
thus  abstracted,  but  from  the  plainer  necessity  of  preventing  the 
enemy  from  recruiting  their  armies  with  our  own  slave?,  it  becomes  a 
clear  obligation,  on  the  military  authorities  of  the  Confederacy,  to 
remove  from  any  district  exposed  to  be  occupied  or  overrun  by  the 
enemy,  the  effective  male  slaves.  Were  there  any  white  population 
within  our  country  so  affected  to  the  enemy  as  to  afford  recruits  to 
their  army,  there  could  be  neither  doubt  nor  delay  in  removing  them 
to  a  secure  distance  on  the  approach  of  hostile  forces,  and  surely  the 
obligation  is  even  more  clear  in  regard  to  the  slaves,  whose  employ- 
ment by  the  eneinv,  as  soldiers,  converts  them  from  valuable  laborers 
into  savage  instruments  of  an  atrocious  war  against  our  people  and 
their  institutions.  All  male  slaves  capable  of  arms,  in  such  cases, 
should,  on  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  be  at  once  removed  by  military 
authority,  to  more  secure  districts,  where  they  may  be  reclaimed 
by  their  masters,  or,  on  their  failure  to  do  so,  be  employed,  on  reason- 
able terms  of  hire,  by  the  Government.  In  this  way,  it  is  probable,  a 
large  number  of  efficient  negroes  may  be  obtained  to  supply  the  de- 
tails from  the  army  for  all  unskilled  labor,  and  also  to  liberate  for 
arms  the  soldiers  now  engaged  in  unwarlike  duties  in  the  trains  and 
camps  of  our  armies.  While  it  may  be  difficult  to  ascertain  the  pre- 
cise numbers  that  may,  from  these  various  sources,  be  thrown  into  our 
armies,  there  can  be  no  doubt  they  would  be  swelled  considerably  be- 
yond their  present  numbers,  and  constitute  an  army  larger,  as  well  as 
more  effective,  thsn  any  we  have  yet  mustered.  In  view  of  the  in- 
creasing repugnance  of  the  enemy,  to  furnish  recruits  to  their  army, 
and  the  failing  hopes  it  indicates,  it  is  almost  certain  that  manifesta- 
tion of  strength  and  resolution  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the  Con- 
federacy would  soon  be  decisive  of  the  struggle.  When  all  the  dis- 
astrous consequences  of  long,  wasting  warfare  are  weighed,  and  the 
mighty  issues,  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  dependent  on  otfr  8H.C- 
eess.  are  realized  and  it  is  apparent  our  people  have  only,  with  united 
wills,  and  a  supreme  effort  to  put  forth  their  entire  strength,  to  assure 
the  prize  of  peace  and  independence,  should  therd  be  misgiving,  or  hes- 
itancy even,  in  adopting  all  the  means  requisite  to  summon  forth 
the  full  number  of  our  population  of  age  and  ability  for  arms,  and  to 
burl  them  against  the  invading  foe?  The  only  inquiry,  it  is  hoped, 
will  be  for  the  agencies  that  can  most  speedily  accomplish  the  de 
marshaling. 

The  organization  already  engaged  in  the  execution  of  the  conscript 
law,  may,  with  some  slight  modifications,  be   readily  made    available. 


12 

With  its  officers,  it  now  extends  to  all  portions  of  the  Confederate 
States,  and  by  systematized  action,  it  may  be  rendered  as  available  to 
collect;  stragglers  and  deserters,  to  give  information  of  the  details 
that  may  be  Bpared,  and  of  the  laborers,  whether  free  or  slave,  that 
may  be  commanded  to  fill  the  places  of  the  Boldiers  returned  to  ser- 
vice, as  to  enrol  conscripts,  and  the  exempts  and  principals  who  may 
be  again  recalled  to  military  setvioe.  One  addition  may  be  required 
•  '  it  fuller  efficiency.  As  or:ginally  designed,  the  law  was 
expected  entirely  to  enforce  itself  by  its  prestige  and  the  sanction 
of  public  sentiment.  Every  man.  on  being  enrolled  and  summoned 
to  his  duty,  was  expected  promptly  to  respond,  and  no  adequate 
means  of  compulsion  were  incorporated.  This,  in  the  main,  his  been 
sufficient,  as  among  a  free  people  ready  obedience  to  law — especially 
a  law  for  the  public  defence — might  be  expected  ;  and  the  appearance 
of  compulsion,  particularly  by  military  authority  was  to  be  depre- 
cated as  both  unnecessary  and  revolting.  But  as  the  war  has  been  real- 
ized in  all  its  trials,  repugnance  and  recusancy,  have,  in  some  limited 
portions  of  country,  been  manifested  occasionally  to  the  call  of  the 
conscribing  officers;  and  when  desertion  and  straggling  have  added  in 
those  districts,  numbers  of  lawless  and  desperate  men,  there  have 
been  combinations  and  organizations  for  open  resistance  to  the  regu- 
lar action  of  the  law.  It  is  always  best  to  overcome  such  evils  in 
their  inception,  and JJ^prevent  such  lawless  feelings  from  coming  to 
the  head  of  open  violence  and  insurrection.  There  has,  therefore, 
been  found  the  necessity,  at  times,  of  small  supporting  forces  to  aid 
and  enforce  the  execution  of  the  law,  both  of  conscription  and  for 
the  arrest  of  deserters.  Such  forces  could  only  occasionally,  and  at 
intervals,  be  spared  from  the  armies  in  the  field  ;  and  it.  is,  therefore, 
found  expedient  to  organize,  of  non-conscripts  and  the  least  available 
of  the  conscripts,  local  or  temporary  organizations,  which  could  be 
more  constantly  employed  in  arresting  deserters,  and  collecting  the 
lipts.  A  regiment  or  battalion  in  each  State  would  probably 
suffice  for  the  full  accomplishment  of  these  ends  ;  and,  while  under 
tin  general  laws  already  existing,  a  few  companies  have  been  organ- 
ized and  are  thus  employed,  it  might  be  well  to  have  more  special 
authority  of  law  for  the  constitution  and  employment  of  such 
limited  forces  by  the  officers  of  the  conscript  service. 

One  <>f  the  subjects  demanding  early  attention  is  to  make  provision 
respecting  the  troops  whoso  term  of  service  will  expire  during  the 
ensuing  spring  and  summer.  The  number  is  considerable.  Accord- 
ing to  the  records  of  the  Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  office, 
three  hundred  and  fifteen  regiments  and  fifty-eight  battalions  contain 
more  or  less  of  those  whose  original  term  of  service  having  been 
for  twelve  months,  either  re-enlisted  for  two  years,  or  were  em- 
braced within  the  operation  of  the  act  of  April  16th,  1882..  That 
act  authorized  the  re-organization  of  the  regiments,  battalions,  squad- 
rons, and  companies  within  its  scope,  which  was  completed — once  for 
all.  And  though  the  individual  soldiers,  composing  such  organiza- 
tions in  a  grca  or  or  less  degree,  be  entitled  to  their  discharge  from 
them,  the   organization  itself    is  not  disturbed   or   broken    up,    but 


13 

remains    the  more  or  less  a   skeleton   according   to  the  numbers  of 
those  discharged. 

It  is  earnestly  recommended  that  these  organizations  be  not  broken 
up  by  any  legislative  action.  Great  injustice  would  thereby  be  done 
to  the  gailant  officers  who  have  been  tested  in  every  way  ;  the  inspir- 
iting associations  and  prestige  of  courage  and  success  attached  to  the 
existing  organizations  vould  be  lost.  Should  new  organizations  be  au- 
thorized, much  injury  would  be  done  to  theserviee,  by  the  unsettled  feel- 
ings, discontents,  and  aspirations,  and  the  demoralization,  in  order 
and  discipline,  which  follow  general  electioneering  throughout  a  com- 
mand. These  evils  were  so  vividly  realized  in  the  re-organization  of 
the  twelve  months  men,  and  operated  so  harshly  on  many  of  the  best 
officersjn  the  service,  that  their  renewal  is  most  earnestly  deprecated. 

The  men  whose  terms  of  service  would  thus  expire,  cannot  finally 
be  discharged  from  the  service.  The  country  needs  their  assistance 
for  defence  against  our  oppressors.  Under  the  present  law,  they 
would  have  the  privilege  of  selecting  their  compmies.  But  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  service  may  advise  a  modification  of  the  privilege  of  se- 
lecting the  existing  companies  in  which  to  serve,  before  enrolment, 
so  as  to  restrict  it  to  a  company  of  the  same  arm  of  the  service,  other- 
wise, a  partiality  for  certain  branches  of  the  service,  as,  for  instance, 
the  artillery,  the  desire  of  change,  of  Irving  a  new  sphere  of  action, 
so  natural  to  the  individual,  may  operate  to  impair  seriously,  if  not 
destroy,  the  efficiency  of  one  or  more  arms  of  the  service,  while  others 
might  he  increased  beyond  all  proper  proportion  for  usefulness. 

The  necessary  legislation  is  therefore  recommended,  to  retain  in 
service  all  those  between  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five,  at  thp 
close  of  their  present  terms  of  enlistment,  with  the  privilege  of  se- 
lecting beforehand  an  existing  company  in  the  same  arm,  in  which  to 
serve,  preserving  the  present  organizations,  with  their  officers,  to  be 
filled  up  by  such  selections  and  the  assignments  of  enrolled  conscripts. 

From  peculiar  circumstances  or  influences,  some  or"  the  present 
organizations  will  be  greatly  reduced  in  numbers  ;  and  to  place  them 
ia  a  propel  condition  of  efficiency  will  furnish  an  additional  reason 
for  the  adoption  of  the  means  suggested  to  increase  the  numbers  of 
our  tr<  pecially  of  recalling  to  service   the   principals  who  have 

furnished  substitutes.  » 

In  some  instances,  doubtless,  the  reduction  of  existing  organiza- 
tions will  compel  the  necessity  of  consolidating  them.  This  furnishes 
nn  additional  reason  to  some  hereafter  produced,  for  the  bestowal  of 
this  power  upon  the  department. 

The  law  providing  boards  to  determine  the  competency  of  officers, 
lias  operated  \  cry  favorably,  both  to  Becuro  efficiency,  and  to  promote 
improvements  among  ail  aspiring  officers  and  men.  It  has  done  much 
to  obviate  the  evils  anticipated  from  the  system  of  election  and  pro- 
motion in  the  provisional  army,  when  so  few  had  the  benefit  of  pre- 
vious Learning  or  experience.  Still,  the  policy  of  elections  at  all 
may  be  well  questioned,  since  inseparable  from  it  arises  an  undue  re- 
gard to  popularity,  especially  among  the  non-commissioned  officers, 
anil  a  spirit  of  electioneering,  subversive  of  subordination   and  disci- 


14 

plinc.  Promotions  by  seniority,  too,  as  the  rule,  may  be  judicious, 
but  it  might,  considering  the  number  of  officers  who  have  no  military 
education,  be  advantageously  varied  with  a  large  latitude  to  selection. 
test  competency  instead  of  being  casual  and  at  discretion, 
should,  it  is  thought,  examine  every  officer  on  his  promotion  by  seni- 
<  ritv.  The  universality  of  the  test  would  thus  deprive  it  of  that  ap- 
parent iuvidiousness  which  often  prevents  its  application.  In  that 
certainty,  too,  would  lie  found  a  greater  incentive  to  constant  prepa- 
ration on  the  part  of  all  junior  officers.  It  might  be  expedient  >o  ex- 
tend to  those  boards  a  wider  power  of  recommendation,  so  that  they 
might  not  bo  restricted  to  determining  merely  the  competency  of  those 
before  them,  but  m'ght  make  recommendations  of  more  efficient  offi- 
cers, whether  in  or  out  of  the  special  organization,  giving,  however, 
preference,  on  an  approach  to  equal  qualifications,  to  the  former.  In 
determining  the  competency  of  officers,  the  boards  have  extended 
their  inquiries  to  physical  disabilities.  In  consequence,  many  officers, 
whose  gallant  services  are  attested  by  their  wounds,  or  whose  health 
has  been  broken  down  by  the  privations  or  exposures  of  service,  are 
honorably  retired,  and  thus  deprived  of  their  commissions.  The  effi- 
ciency of  the  service  may  be  thus  promoted,  but  every  feeling  of  grat- 
itude and  justice  revolts  at  such  reward  for  wounds  and  sickness  re- 
ceived in  the  service  of  the  country.  From  such  feelings  it  often 
happens  th-t  there  is  no  call  of  a  board  in  cases  of  disability,  and 
then  the  position  of  the  disabled  officer  cannot  be  filled  in  the  field, 
and  the  road  to  promotion  is  effectually  blocked  to  the  junior  officers. 
This  state  of  things  is  often  felt  by  gallant  officers  under  disability 
with  such  honorahle  sensibility,  that  even  without  adequate  provi>ion 
for  their  own  maintenance,  they  feel  bound  to  resign.  Nor  can  relief 
from  this  painful  necessity  be  given  by  assigning  them  to  posts  or 
other  duties  than  those  of  the  field.  For  only  by  virtue  of  their  com- 
missions can  such  assignment  be  made  and  held  ;  and  their  retention 
of  the  commission  debars  their  juniors  in  the  field  from  advancement, 
and  leaves  their  command  without  the  necessary  complement  of  offi- 
cers. All  this  results  from  the  feiture  incident  to  the  organization 
of  the  provisional  army  that  the  commission  is  restricted  to,  and  de- 
pendent upon  the  special  organization.  To  obviate  the  serious  mis- 
chiefs resulting,  it  is  recommended  that  all  officers  disabled  by  wounds 
i  r  sickness  incurred  in  the  service  should  be  honorably  retired,  and 
severed  from  connection  with  their  special  organizations,  but  be  al- 
lowed, during  the  war,  to  retain  their  rank  and  pay.  They  would  thus 
be  available,  as  far  as  their  disabilities  for  field  service  would  permit, 
for  posts  and  other  light  duties,  and  might,  without  injury  to  the 
service  in  the  field,  be  scarcely  less  useful  to  the  country  in  less  ex- 
posed, but  still  important  positions.  Some  measure  of  relief  in  these 
oases  will  be  promotive  of  the  efficiency  of  the  army  in  the  field, 
while  it  is  imperatively  called  for  by  the  simplest  justice  to  the  brave 
officers,  who  have  been  shattered  in  health  or  maimed  in  body,  in 
noble  discharge  of  patriotic  duty. 

In  connection  with  the  subject  of  these  boards,  it  seems  appropriate 
to  invite  attention  to  the  number  of  reports  proceeding  from  them. 


15 

and  to  the  onerous  duty  which  is  imposed  on  the  Executive  to  examine 
and  decide  on  all  which  retire  or  dismiss  officers.  With  other  arduous 
labors,  of  even  more  importance,  it  is  not  physically  possible  that  the 
proceedings  should  receive  from  the  Executive  a  consideration  that  is 
desirable  for  just  revision.  A  like  remark  applies  to  the  many  cases 
from  courts-martial  and  the  military  courts,  which  are  sent  up  or 
brought  by  appeal  to  Executive  clemency,  to  the  consideration  of 
this  Department  and  the  President.  At  the  same  time,  a  painful 
responsibility  attaches,  in  all  these  cases,  which  will  not  allow  them  to 
be  lightly  treated.  To  obviate  the  difficulty,  it  is  recommended  that 
an  officer,  in  the  nature  of  a  judge  advocate,  be  appointed  specially  to 
examine  all  such  cases,  and  to  make  report  on  all  that  require  the 
exercise,  finally,  of  Executive  discretion.  Some  measure  of  this 
kind  should  be  adopted,  or  the  approvals  of  the  commanders  in  the 
field  be  made  final,  except  on  direct  appeal,  within  reasonable  time,  to 
the  Executive, 

In  reference  to  the  cavalry,  under  the  system  of  requiring  the  men 
to  furnish  their  own  horses,  it  is  becoming  daily  more  difficult,  and, 
it  is  feared,  will  soon  become  impracticable,  to  keep  mounted  a  suffi- 
cient number  for  effective  service.  Under  the  advance  in  price,  and 
the  increasing  scarcity  of  suitable  horses,  few  have  the  ability  to 
supply  themselves,  while  the  contingencies  of  active  and  exhausting 
service,  often  on  inadequate  forage,  too  frequently  imposes  the  neces- 
sity. The  difficulty  is  enhanced  by  the  Limited  range  of  casualties 
for  which  provision  of  payment  is  made — only  those  "killed  in 
action." 

The  difficulty  of  procuring  horses  is  also  becoming  almost  equally 
applicable  to  officers.  The  law  of  the  provisional  Congress,  making 
provision  for  the  payment  for  horses  killed  in  battle,  did  not,  accord- 
ing to  the  received  construction,  embrace  officers.  This  was  probably 
owing  to  the  liberal  rate  at  which,  with  existing  values,  their  pay 
was  fixed.  In  consequence,  they  would  receive  no  allowance  what- 
ever for  horses,  even  when  killed  in  battle,  had  not  a  law  of  the 
Qnitcd  States,  embraced  in  the  general  re-enactment  of  the  provi- 
sional Congress,  allowed  them  compensation,  not  exceeding  in  any 
case  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  for  the  horse.  The  change  which 
the  increase  of  prices  has  made,  partially  in  the  rate  of  pay.  as  also 
in  the  price  of  horses,  renders  it  beyond  the  ability  of  many  to  pro- 
cure suitable  steeds  when  dismounted.  Justice,  as  well  as  the  interest 
of  the  service,  urges  the  correction  of  these  evils,  and,  it  is  suggested, 
uther  that  the  system  be  changed  and  horses  be  furnished  by  the 
Government  to  both  officers  and  men,  with  a  disallowance  of  the  com- 
pensation granted  for  the  service  or  loss  of  the  horse,  or  that  provi- 
sion be  made  to  pay  all  officers,  as  well  as  men,  the  appraised  values 
of  their  horses,  when  lost  by  any  of  the  actual  contingencies  of  ser- 
vice, and  not  through  remisness  or  neglect. 

The  advantages  anticipated  from  the  allowance  of  corps  of  partizan 
rangers,  with  peculiar  privileges  of  prize  to  stimulate  their  zeal  and 
activity,  have  been  very  partially  realized,  while  from  their  indepen- 
dent organization  and  the  facilities  and  temptations  thereby  afforded 


16 

to  license  and  depredations,  grave  mischiefs  have  resulted.  They  have, 
indeed,  when  under  inefficient  officers,  and  operating  within  our  own 
limits  come  to  be  regarded  as  mure  formidable  and  destructive  to  our 
own  people  than  to  the  enemy.  The  opportunities,  too,  afforded 
them   of   profit  by   their  captures,  as  well   as  the  lighter   bonds  of 

line   under  which   they  are  held,  serve  to  dissatisfy  the  trained 
soldiers  of  the  provisional  army,  who,  encountering  greater  perils  and 
privations,  are  denied  similar  indulgences.     There  are  certainly  some 
septions  to  the  gen  imite  thus  held  of  the  partizan 

corps  and,  in  Beveral  instances,  partizan  leaders  have  distinguished 
I  their  corps  l>y  services  as  eminent  as  their  achieve- 
ments have  been  daring  and  brilliant.  They  constitute  only  notable 
ptions,  and  experience  of  the  general  inefficiency  and  even  mis- 
chief  of  the  organizations,  would  recommend  that  they  either  be  merged 
in  the  troops  of  the  line,  or   be   disbanded   and   conscribed.     To  pre- 

the  few   that  are  valable  coadjutors  to  the  general  service,  a 

tiou  may  be  entrusted  to  the  Department. 
military  courts  have  been  found  to  operate  beneficially  on  the 
moral.-   and   efficiency  of  the   army.     They   have  dispensed  with   the 

ity  of  such  frequent  details  of  officers  from  their  regular  duties 

uits  martial,  and  from  their  disconnection  with  the  rivalries  and 
inten  sts  <»f  the  line,  as  well  as  their  larger  experience  and  superior 
qualifications,  have  generally  secured  a  larger  measure  of  satisfaction 
to  their  judgments.  As  the  courts,  under  the  existing  law,  are  each 
sepai  instituted,  the  members  cannot,  under  temporary  exigen- 

cies, be  interchanged  or  assigned  from  one  court  to  another.  Incon- 
veiii.it.  -•-  have  sometimes  resulted  from  this,  when,  from  any  cause,  it 
some  member  should  not  sit  in  a  particular  case,  or 
when  some  members  of  a  particular  court  were  detained  by  sickness, 
>ther  reason,  and  from  inability  to  supply  their  places,  the 
court  is  rendered  inoperative.  remedy,  it  is  proposed  the  Exe- 

cutive he  authorized,  at  any  time,  t..  assign  judges  from  one  court  to 
another,  as,  in  his  judgment,  the  service  may  require,  And  a  similar 
authority  to  detail  field  officers  as  members  of  the  court,  in  temporary 
exigencies,  might  be  given  to  the  commanders  of  corps  or  departments* 
as  is  granted  them  by  the  law  ci  ich  courts,  to  detail  an  officer 

to  perform  the  duties  of  the  judge  advocate  in  case  of  his  absence  or 
disability. 

the  due  complement  of  staff  officers,  the.  powers  reposed  by  law 
ki  the  Executive  seem  adequate,  with  one  exception.  The  appoint- 
ment of  quartermasters  and  commissiaries,  for  service  in  the  field,  has 
never  hen  extended  beyond  brigades,  and  consequently,  no  such  offi- 
ceis  can  be  directly  appointed  for  divisions,  corps,  or  an  entire  army. 
The  experience  of  the  service  indicates,  that  for  every  array  a  chief 
quartermaster  and  commissary,  in  direct  communication  with  the 
general,  through  whom  the  general  supplies  and  movements  of  the 
army  may  be  arranged  and  directed,  are  essential.  So  also  as  corps, 
and  even  divisions,  have  often,  in  the  operations  in  the  field,  to 
operate  separately,  sometimes  at  considerable  distances  apart,  almost 
as  separate  armies,  for  like  uses,  to  them  a  principal  quartermaster  and 


17 

commissary  are  always  important,  an  1  at  ti.ne3,  indispensable.  The 
necessity  of  the  case  has,  therefore,  led  the  generals,  under  their  dis- 
cretionary control  over  all  the  officers  of  their  commands,  to  with- 
draw or  assign  from  their  brigades,  quartermasters  and  commissaries 
to  act  for  the  army,  the-corps  and  divisions,  and  as  such  assignment 
proved  continuous,  their  places  have  not  unfrequently  been  fillel  a3 
vacancies  by  new  appointments  to  the  brigades.  Indeed,  this  has 
become  a  practice  so  recognised,  that  Congress,  in  one  of  its  acts,  has 
seemed  by  its  reference  to  division  quartermasters  to  have  given  to  it 
an  implied  sanction.  The  Department,  however,  has,  in  the  absence 
of  express  lav,  felt  an  embarrassment  in  either  making  such  appoint- 
ment, or  in  giving  to  the  officers-  assigned  rank  appropriate  to  their 
■superior  position,  and  more  extended  duties.  It  is  suggested  that 
such  difficulties  had  better  be  removed  by  direct  -authority  for  the 
appointment  and  assignment  of  such  officers,  with  rank  determined  by 
the  dignity  of  the  commauds  to  which  they  are  to  be  attached. 

For  the  more  effective  organization  of  the  army,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  have  the  power,  when  companies  or  regiments  are  reduced  in 
'numbers  below  a  certain  complement,  to  consolidate  and  organize  them 
anew.  This  is  a  necessity  greatly  to  be  regretted,  for  many  honora- 
ble associations,  as  well  as  the  prestige  cf  courage  and  success  attached 
to  the  old  organizations,  make  it  alike  matter  of  feeling  and  policy  to 
retain  them.  Justice  to  th^  many  gallant  officers,  who,  by  such  con- 
solidations, must  lose  their  commissions,  likewise  increases  the  repug- 
nance to  the*  proceeding.  With  most  of  the  organizations  contributed 
from  the  States  where  the  conscript  law  can  be  enforced,  it  is  hoped 
the  necessity  may  be  avoided.  But  no  alternative  seems  to  exist  in 
regard  to  those  coming  from  the  States  overrun,  or  in  the  occupancy 
of  the  enemy.  Without  such  measure,  the  organizations  from  these 
States  will  dwindle  to  extinction.  From  them  the  recruits  that  can 
be  procured  come  only  in  organizatiqns  of  their  choice,  and  are  gen- 
erally induced  to  come  forth  from  the  enemy's  lines  by  the  active 
exertions  of  officers  interested  in  forming  new  commands.  Thia 
power  of  consolidation  has  sometimes,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case, 
been  exercised  by  generals  in  commands,  but  unless  effected  by  con- 
sent, the  Department  has  felt  its  inability  to  regard  them  otherwise 
than  temporary  arrangements,  and  as  leaving  the  old  organizations 
with  their  officers  in  legal  existence.  This  leads  to  the  inconvenience 
of  having  officers  of  the  line  retained  in  commission,  without  appro- 
priate commands)  and  in  every  way  causes  complaint  and  confusion. 
In  an  indirect  way,  the  power  is,  indeed,  possessed,  and  under  the 
stress  of  necessity,  has  sometimes  been  exercised  by  the  Department, 
of  effecting  consolidations.  That  is,  by  disbanding  one  of  the  organ- 
izations from  the  same  State,  thus  dismissing  the  officers,  and  leaving 
the  men  liable  to  conscription,  and  then  assigning  the  latter  to  the 
other  organization.  The  effect  of  this,  however,  is  to  retain  all  the. 
officers  of  the  one  organization,  while  all  of  the  other  lose  their  com- 
missions, or  if  in  lieu  of  this  plan,  both  organizations  are  disbanded, 
and  the  men  thrown  togeth  r  in  a  new  one,  all  tho  mischiefs  and 
demoralizations  resulting  from  elections,  and  a  new  set  of  officers,  are 
2 


hazarde  i  It  evidently  would  be  far  better  there  should  .be  the  dis- 
ci'.ron  reposed  either  in  the  commanding  general  or  the  Department 
t ..  consolidate  directly,  and  let  the  b(  st  officers  from  both  organiza- 
tions be  selected,  either  by  the  Executive,  or  on  the  recommendation 
of  impartial  examining  boards.  Power  should  be  given,  too,  in  such 
cases,  to  permit  such  of  the  officers  not  needed,  who  are  recommended 
■fl  deaerring.  to  retain  their  commissions,  and  be  subject  to  assignment 
to  other  appropriate  duties.  Thus,  asf;ir  as  practicable,  in  the  painful 
necessity  of  reducing  commands,  efficiency,  in  the  commands  would 
I     reconciled  with  justice  to  the  officers. 

By  the  means  recommended,  all  of  military  capabilities  between 
the  age-  f  eighteen  and  forty-five,  excepting  such  as  the  actual 
i.  ils  of  society  or  the  Government  render  more  serviceable  in  peace- 
ful avocations,  may  be  effectively  devoted  to  active  service  in  the 
field.  But  there  will  still  remain  large  numbers,  of  ages  less  adapted 
tn  the  field  but  still  capable  of  arms,  Avho  may  be  rendered  effective 
«6  a  reserve,  and  for  purposes  of  local  defence  and  internal  police. 
in  a  struggle  such  as  the  Confederacy  is  engaged  in,  with  all  the 
dearest  interests  of  the  present  and  future  dependent  on  the  success- 
ful  resistance  to  foes  superior  in  numbers  and  material  resources,  and 
animated  by  the  most  malignant  passions  for  our  complete  subjugation 
or  extermination,  all  of  whatever  age,  capable  of  striking  a  blow  or 
mustering  for  defence,  should  be  unhesitatingly  summoned,  as  they 
should  be  prompt  to  answer,  to  the  sacred  duty  of  repelling  the  in- 
vader. The  Confederacy  may  well  be  regarded  as  a  beleaguered  city, 
where  all  capable  should  be  placed  at  the  guns,  and  all  priveleged  from 
age  or  infirmity  should  yet  minister  to  the  common  safety.  The 
ruthless  policy,  recently  adopted  by  the  enemy,  of  cavalry  raids- 
through  important  districts  of  country,  with  the  nefarious  purposes 
of  destruction  and  devastation,  that  by  depriving  of  the  means  of 
production  and  subsistance  the  helpless  and  dependent,  they  may 
compel  to  submission  the  men  they  have  feared  to  confront  or  been 
unable  to  subdue,  render  more  clear  and  imperative  the  duty  of  thus 
organizing  and  preparing  our  reserve  population.  These  raids,  hither- 
to made  with  little  danger  through  extensive  but  sparsely  populated 
districts,  and  prosecuted  rather  in  the  spirit  of  brigands  than  of 
soldiers,  might  be  easily  checked  and  punished  by  comparatively  few 
I 'rave  men.  however  little  adapted  to  continuous  service,  if  only  duly 
organized  and  armed.  A  few  instances  of  merited  vengence  from  the 
intended  victims  of  their  rapacity  and  cruelty,  would  effectually  stop 
such  malignant  marauders.  To  accomplish  such  organization,  it  will 
only  be  necessary  to  enforce  as  an  obligation,  the  duty  on  all  capable 
of  arms  to  unite  in  such  companies  as  are  provided  for  voluntary 
engagements  by  the  acts  of  the  21st  of  August,  1861,  and  the  1 3th 
of  October,  1862.  The  former  contemplated  organizations  for  local 
defence  and  special  service  within  prescribed  districts,  when  the 
members  remained  uninterrupted  in  their  ordinary  avocations,  until 
on  the  occurrence  of  an  emergency  called  by  the  President  into  actual 
service,  and  when  the  need  had  passed,  were  again  returned  to  their 
civil  pursuits.     While  in  service,  they  are  armed,  paid  and  provided 


19 

by  the  Confederate  Government,  and  constitute  a  part  of  the  Pro- 
visional Army,  subject  to  the  military  authority,  and  governed  by  the 
rules  and  articles  of  war.  The  latter  provided  far  mere  defensive  bands 
•of  twenty  or  more,  who,  on  the  approach  of  a  hostile  incursion,  should, 
with  their  own  arms  and  means,  bravely  seek  to  'defend  thei-r  homes 
and  punish  the  spoilers.  It  cast  around  them  the  «gis  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  recognized  them  as  among  the  authorised  defenders  of 
their  country, 

These  two  laws  may  readily  he  adapted  to  a  division  of  the  reserve 
population  into  two  classes  ;  those  whose  age  and  health  would  sustain 
service  throughout  the  State,  or  sorje  extensive  district,  and  who 
might  be  called  on  for  continuous  service  during  an  emergency,  and 
those  who  would  only  be  adapted  to  defensive  or  police  operations 
within  their  counties.  By  this  adaptation,  and  a  compulsory  require- 
ment the  whole  arms-bearing  population  not  in  active  service,  could, 
without  seriously  impairing  the  productive  and  industrial  resources 
of  the  county,  be  organized  as  effective  aids  in  our  great  struggle. 
They  would  suffice  to  ensure  defence  and  internal  security  to  each 
State  and  country,  while  the  armies  in  the  field  could  be  employed 
solely  in  overthrowing  the  invading  hosts  of  the  enemy.  A  prouder 
spectacle  would  never  have  been  presented  in  history,  than  a  whole 
people  thus  organized  and  armed  prepared,  old  and  young  alike,  at 
home  and  on  their  frontiers,  to  meet  and  repel  their  rapacious  ag- 
gressors. 

The  subject  of  the  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war  has  excited  much 
attention,  and  has  a  painful  interest  to  our  people  and  our  brave  sol- 
diers, whom  the  fortune  of  war  has  thrown  into  the  hands  of  our  ene- 
mies. It  was  the  desire  of  this  Government,  from  an  early  period  of 
the  war,  to  agree  upon  a  fair  and  equitable  system  of  exchanges.  The 
large  preponderance  of  pri-oners  being  on  our  side,  negoti  iti  ms  were 
opened  and  had  been  nearly  consummated,  the  terms  having  been  i 
agreed  upon  in  accordance  with  the  views  of  his  Government  as  ex- 
pressed by  the  Commissioner  of  the  United  States.  And  under  his 
assurance  of  satisfactory  setttlement,  a  large  number  of  prisoners 
held  by  us  were  delivered  up.  Some  serious  reverses,  however,  just 
then  befalling  us,  and  large  numbers  of  prisoners  being  taken  by  the 
enemy,  they  refused  to  consumate  the  agreement,  and  broke  off  the 
negotiation.  Their  loss  in  prisoners  in  subsequent  military  Opera- 
tions, especially  in  their  disastrous  defeats  around  this  city,  again 
giving  us  the  preponderance,  a  cartel  of  exchange  was  agreed  on  and 
executed.  Various  efforts  to  obtain  unfair  advantages  by  quibbling 
as  to  its  terms  and  operation  were  made,  and  its  provisions  violated 
by  the  enemy,  but  the  cartel  was  recognized  as  being  in  force  and  ex- 
changes continued  to  be  made.  Our  reverses  in  July  again  gave 
them,  as  they  claim,  the  preponderance  in  the  number  of  prisoners, 
.-dace  which  time  they  have  openly  disregarded  its  obligations,  and 
have. now,  upon  false  and  flimsy  pretext,  declared  it  to  be  inoperative 
All  exchanges  have  now  ceased,  with  little  apparent  prospect  of  re- 
newal. The  exchange  of  prisoners  was  desired  on  our  part  for  the- 
e  of  humanity,  to  prevent,  in  accordance  with  the   usages   of  wa: 


20 

among  civilized  nations,  individual  suffering,  as  far  as  practicable. 
And  all  the  obligations  imposed  on  us,  as  to  the  treatment  of  prisoners 
and  exchange  bj  such  usages  and  the  cartel  of  exchange,  have  been 
fulfilled  on  our  part  with  entire  and  scrupulous  good  faith,  while  the 
course  of  our  enemies  has  been  marked  by  perfidy  and  a  disregard  of 
their  engagements  and  the  dictates  of  humanity. 

The  report  of  Mr.  Ould,  our  Commissioner  of  Exchange,  which 
accompanies  this,  will  fully  explain  the  present  position  of  this 
interesting  subject. 

It  i.~  gratifying  to  be  able  to  report  that,  during  the  past  year,  the 
ordnance  and  mining  bureau  have  steadily  increased  the  production  and 
supply  of  arms  and  munitions.  iN'oth withstanding  the  serious  in- 
jury, sustained  from  fire  by  one  of  the  leading  establishments 
of  the  Confederacy  for  the  manufacture  of  ordnance,  yet  by 
prompt  repairs  and  the  establishment  of  similar  works  in  other  por- 
tions of  the  Confederacy,  the  manufacture  has  rather  increased,  and 
is  now  believed  to  be  adequate  to  the  regular  demands  of  the  service. 
Arms,  too,  of  approved  kinds  are  being  made  with  more  facility,  at 
more  places  and  in  larger  numbers,  than  at  any  previous  time.  Very 
valuable  additions  to  our  supplies  of  arms  have  been  made  during  the 
year  by  importations  from  abroad,  and  thus  have  enabled  the  bureau 
promptly  to  repair  the  very  heavy  losses  which  were  sustained  in  the 
disastrous  campaign  in  Mississippi.  But  without  such  aids  in  the  fu- 
ture, unless  unwonted  losses  occur,  confidence  is  felt  in  our  ability, 
by  internal  manufacture,  to  provide  arms  adequate  to  the  demands  of 
our  armies.  In  the  manufacture  of  powder,  balls,  shell,  &c.,  progress 
has  been  marked,  and  with  Rome  addition  in  the  supplies  of  nitre 
from  foreign  sources,  there  will  be  no  want  of  adequate  supplies 
of  superior  quality.  Special  attention  has  been  given  to  the  distri- 
bution of  these  works  in  different  portions  of  the  Confederacy,  so  as 
not  to  leave  our  supplies  dependent  on  single  disasters.  While  not 
yet  wholly  independent  in  the  supply  of  nitre,  there  has  been,  until 
very  recently,  marked  increase  in  its. production.  That  increase  has, 
during  the  past  year,  nearly  doubled  from  production.  The  tempo- 
rary occupancy  by  the  enemy  of  the  districts  of  the  country  where 
the  richest  deposits  of  nitrous  earth  were  found,  has,  for  the 
present,  diminished  the  production,  but  it  is  encouraging  to  know, 
that  the  artificial  sources  of  supply,  in  beds  of  nitrous  earth,  will  soon 
begin  to  be  available,  and  much  more  than  supply  the  deficiencies 
which  have  resulted  from  the  operations  of  the  enemy. 

The  mining  operations  in  iron,  lead  and  coal  have  all  been  pushed 
with  remarkable  skill  and  activity,  under  the  direction  of  the  zealous 
head  of  the  nitre  and  minining  bureau,  in  despite  of  all  the  embarrass- 
ments resulting  from  paucity  of  laborers  and  fluctuating  prices,  and 
the  result  has  been  in  each  more  abundant  production,  and  a  better 
prospect  of  future  sufficiency,  than  we  have  yet  enjoyed.  A  more 
decisive  exhibtion  of  the  resources  and  exhaustless  capacities  of  en- 
durance possessed  by  the  Confederacy  could  not  well  be  presented 
than  the  decided  increase,  amid  unprecedented  efforts  and  sacrifices 
in  the  field  and  numberless  impediments  in  procuring  machinery,  labor 


21 

and  supplies,  of  all  the  great  manufactures  essential  for  successful 
defence. 

The  quartermaster  and  commissary  generals,  in  the  administration 
of  their  respective  departments,  have  had,  during  the  past  year,  ex- 
traordinary difficulties  and  embarrassments  to  encounter.  The  man- 
ufacturing operations  of  the  former,  as  in  the  other  bureaus,  have  in- 
deed been  conducted  on  a  large  scale,  with  more  economy  of  material 
and  with  greater  skill  and  energy,  than  at  past  periods,  and  have 
made  more  nearly  the  supplies  for  the  army  from  internal  resources, 
but  still  for  some  essential  articles,  such  as  shoes,  blankets  and 
woolen  cloths,  partial  dependence  on  importations  could  not  be 
avoided.  In  these  articles  it  can  scarcely  be  expected  that  domestic 
production  can  be  increased,  for,  under  the  wasting  consump- 
tion of  war,  the  production  of  the  raw  material  is  more  likely  to 
be  diminished  than  increased.  But  the  difficulties  of  both  the 
the  quartermaster  and  commissary  generals  have  been  most  grave  in 
the  large  necessary  purchases  and  transportation  of  forage  and  sub- 
sistence. The  abstraction  of  so  much  male  labor  from  culture,  and 
the  barbarous  ravages  of  the  enemy  pursued  with  a  systematic  view 
to  curtail  our  resources  by  spoliation  and  destruction,  combined  with 
unfavorable  seasons,  to  limit,  almost  beyond  precedent,  the  production 
of  these  essential  articles.  The  scarcity,  too,  was  greatest  in  one  or 
two  of  the  States  nearest  to  our  largest  armies,  and  the  necessity  for 
months,  of  sustaing  almost  entirely  the  armies  of  northern  Virginia, 
from  supplies  of  corn  drawn  from  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  will 
strikingly  illustrate  both  the'dearth  and  the  difficulty  of  supplying  it. 
At  cme  time  it  was  thought  necessary  to  make  appeal  direct  to  the 
feelings  and  patriotism  of  the  people  for  the  prompt  rendition  of  all 
surplus  of  supplies  for  subsistence,  and  it  is  a  grateful  duty  to  ac- 
knowledge, that  they  who  have  never  failed  to  recognize  as  their  own 
the  cause  of  the  Confederacy,  with  zeal  and  emulation  met  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  case,  and,  in  very  many  instances,  stinted  themselves 
and  their  dependents  to  .supply  the  army.  It  is  mosc  creditable  to 
these  departments  that  they  have  been  able,  amid  the  real  deficiencies 
existing,  and  the  many  hindrances  from  distance,  defective  transporta- 
tion and  other  causes,  to  keep  the  armies  at  all  times  moderately  sup- 
plied, and  even  able  to  make  all  the  movements  in  the' field  which  the 
exigencies  of  the  campaign  demanded.  How  long  their  exertion  will 
avail  to  assure  such  results,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  now  a  matter  of 
grave  anxiety.  The  consumption  of  all  animal  life  in  the  war  has 
been  very  great,  and,  in  addition,  during  the  past  few  months,  de- 
structive and  wide-spread  disease  has  prevailed  among  the  swine, 
which  constitute  the  most  serviceable,  as  well  largest  resource  for  meat. 
Bacon  and  beef  must,  in  view  of  the  needs  of  both  the  array  and  the 
people,  be  scarce  during  the  coming  year.  It  is  confidently  believed 
indeed,  that  there  is  a  sufficiency  of  meat  in  the  Confederacy  to  afford 
a  reasonable  supply  to  the  army,  and  yet  sustain  the  people  likewise, 
but  to  attain  such  result,  it  must  be  husbanded  with  care,  and  used 
with  more  economy  than  our  people  have  been  accustomed  to  practice. 
The   supplies  of  hay    and    long  forage  generally    are  likewise    un- 


22 

doubtedly  scant,  for  these  articles  are  not  habitually  produced  in  su- 
perabundance in  the  Confederacy,  and  the  season  has  been  decidedly 
unfavorable.  Many  substitutes  for  the  better  kind  of  long  forage 
may  be  readily  found  on  plantations,  and  it  is  hoped  the  people  will 
recognize  the  necessity  of  parting  with  the  best  of  their  stores  for 
the  use  of  the  animals  exposed  to  the  much  harsher  toils  and  labors 
of  the  service.  This  is  the  more  necessary,  as  another  of  our  imme- 
diate needs  is  the  doe  supply  of  horses  for  cavalry  and  artillery,  in- 
dispensable arms  of  the  service.  Our  safety  demands  that  we  pre- 
serve our  horses  during  the  rigors  of  the  winter,  and  in  a  condition 
to  resume  efficient  service  in  the  spring,  as  it  would  then  be  next  to 
impossible  to  replace  them. 

But  the  gravest  difficulty  encountered  by  the  purchasing  department 
is,  that  the  only  mode  of  obtaining  supplies  available  to  them  is 
impressment.  The  inflation  of  the  currency,  and  the  insatiable  thirst 
for  gain  and  speculation  induced  by  it,  have  caused  inordinate 
enchancement  of  the  prices  of  all  products,  and  a  yet  continuing 
advance,  stimulated,  in  part,  by  the  increasing  volume  of  the  cur- 
rency, and  in  part  b}^  the  sordid  calculation  of  large  gains  from  hoard- 
ing by  holders  or  speculators.  To  this  has  likewise  contributed  some 
distrust,  not  of  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy,  but  of  its  future  ability, 
however  earnest  its  desire  to  preserve  its  credit  and  good  faith,  to 
redeem  the  large  issues  which  such  enhancements  of  price  rendered 
inevitable.  The  consequences  have  been  an  almost  universal  repug- 
nance on  the  part  of  producers  and  holders  to  sell  at  any  price,  except 
under'compulsion.  This  evil  had  begun  to  manifest  itself  before  the 
close  of  the  last  Congress,  to  such  a  degree,  that  some  legislative 
remedy  was  recognized  to  be  indispensable.  To  buy  at  current 
prices  was  seen  to  bo  suicidal  to  the  credit  of  the  Government, 
to  swell  its  indebtedness,  in  a  brief  period,  bejond  its  utmost  capa- 
cities for  redemption,  and,  at  the  same  time,*  to  raise,  by  daily  acces- 
sions, the  advancing  scale  of  extravagant  prices,  until  both  the  fears 
and  interest  of  the  holders  would  forbid  sates  at  all.  Under  these 
circumstances,  Congress  devised  and  authorized  a  system  of  impress- 
ment of  all  property  required  "  for  the  good  of  the  service,"  or  the 
accumulation  of  adequate  supplies  for  the  army,  at  the  same  time 
gnizing,  that  under  the  exceptional  circumstances  of  the  country, 
and  the  disturbance  of  the  ordinary  laws  cf  trade  regulating  supply 
and  demand,  current  prices  constituted  no  criterion  of  just  compen- 
sation required  by  the  Constitution  to  be  allowed  for  the  appropria- 
tion of  private  property  to  public  uses.  Congress  provided  for  the 
ascertainment  of  such  just  compensation  by  reference,  in  the  first 
instance,  in  part  to  local  appraisers,  and  then  to  two  commissioners  to 
be  appointed  for  each  State,  one  by  the  Governor  and  the  other  by 
the  President  of  the  Confederacy.  These  officers  combining,  by  their 
appointment,  the  sanction  of  the  State  and  Confederate  authorities, 
vwere  not  only  to  entertain  appeals  from  local  appraisements,  but,  from 
time  to  time,  to  .  ascertain  and  prescribe  fair  rates  of  valuation  to1 
govern  in  impressments.  As  there  seems  no  other  alternative,  this 
was,  perhaps,  as  judicious  an  arrangement  on  this  delicate  and  difficult 


2.3 

subject  as  was  practicable,  and  on  it  the  Government  his  been  com-' 
polled  to  rely  aimost  exclusively  during  the  past  year.  This  resource. 
operating  with  increasing  stringency  and  strain,  is,  at  this  time,  its 
only  reliance.  The  evils  attending  it,  are,  however,  very  great,  and 
only  less  than  the  failure  or  deficiency  of  supplies,  which,  so  far,  it. 
has  managed  to  avert.  Impressment  is,  evidently,  a  harsh,  unequal 
and  odious  mode  of  supply.  With  the  utmost  forbearance  and  con- 
sideration, even  its  occasioual  exercise  is  harrassing  and  irritating  ; 
but  when  it  bus  to  prevail  as  a  general  practice,  to  be  exercised 
inquisitorially  and  summarily  in  almost  every  private  domain,  by  a 
multitude  of  subordinate  officers,  it  becomes  beyond  measure  offensive 
and  repugnant  to  the  sense  of  justice  and  prevalent  sentiment  of  our 
people.  It  has  been,  perhaps,  the  sorest  test  of  their  patriotism  and 
salf-sacrificing  spirit  afforded  by  the  war,  and  no  other  people,  it  is 
believed,  would  have  endured  it.  without  undue  manifestations  of  dis- 
content and  resistance.  It  has  caused  much  murmuring  and  dissatis- 
faction; but  a  knowledge  of  the  necessities,  which  alone  justified  i:, 
has  caused  the  outcry  to  be  directed  rather  to  the  mode,  and  as  alleged, 
occasional  excesses  of  its  exercise,  than  against  the  system  itself. 
Casual  irregularities  and  abuses  in  the  use  of  such  a  power,  by 
numerous  agents  in  so  many  quarters,  may  not  be  wholly  unavoida- 
ble, but  every  effort  to  obtain  information  respecting  them,  and  to 
afford  prompt  correctives,  has  been  earnestly  made  by  the  Depart- 
ment. As  to  the  mode  of  action,  great  misapprehension  has  pre- 
vailed. It  has  been  supposed  that  it  was  the- system  of  the  Depart- 
ment to  attempt  to  regulate  the  prices  for  the  public,  according  to  the 
schedule  rates  prescribed  by  the  State  appraisers,  by  impressing  the 
products  held  by  all  who  sold  at  higher  rates,  and  in  like  spirit  to 
keep  supplies  from  bding  enhanced  in  price  by  the  competition  of 
consumers  in  the  large  large  cities,  by  the  impressment  of  all  supplies 
in  transitu  to  market,  unless  the  holders  would  agree  to  sell  at 
schedule  prices.  To  this  supposed  policy  was  ascribed  the  great 
enhancement  of  prices  in  the  markets  of  the  cities,  and  the  gravest 
apprehensions  of  want  were  entertained  by  many,  from  the  alleged 
exclusion  of  free  supplies  to  the  cities.  The  orders  and  instructions 
of  the  Department  had  been,  in  fact,  against  such  policy,  and  the 
republication  and  reiteration  of  the  regulations  on  the  subject,  which 
had  been  made  soon  after  the  initiation  of  the  system,  have,  it  is 
hoped,  removed  euCD  injurious  impressions.  At  the  same  time,  it  is 
found,  as  throughout  it  had  been  feared  by  the  Department,  that  the 
scarcity  ami  high  prices  of  supplies  in  the  markets  of  the  country 
have  not  been  due  to  the  law  of  impressment,  or  to  the  suppose 
policy  under  it.  The  impressment  law  applies  only  to  the  surplus  of 
producers,  and  expressly  exempts  to  them  and  others  the  reasonable 
supplies  they  may  have  or  obtain  for  the  consumption  of  the  rtselves, 
their  families,  or  dependants.  Thus  all  consumers  are  privileged 
freely  to  supply  themselves.  All  supplies,  too,  it  is  now  at  least  fully 
known,  arc  exempt  in  transitu  to  market,  and  for  a  reasonable  time 
afterwards.  Yet  it  is  found  that  all  prices  have  only  the  more -rapidly 
advanced,  and  are  still  advancing,  and  that  neither  are  the  markets  of 


24' 

t.he  cities  adequately  supplied,  nc«r  can  consumers,  by  purchase  at 
current  rates,  without  the  utmost  difficulty,  supply  themselves.  The 
truth  is,  tkat  the  explanation,  as  the  cause,  is  to  be  found  outside  of 
the  tmpressnfent  law,  or  the  action  under  ir.  The  real  difficulty  is, 
that  the  price  advancing  from  d»y  to  day  with  an  accelerated  ratio-, 
ami  a  steady  depreciation  of  the  currency,  the  holders,  unless  required 
by  positive  necessity,  prefer  to  retain  their  supplies,  and  will  not  sell 
for  any  temptation  of  present  price.  The  impressment  law  is,  in  fact, 
almost  the  only  corrective  of  this  feeling,  which  would  else  be  well 
nigh  universal.  It  favors  the  supply  of  the  markets  and  of  consumers. 
The  apprehension  that  surplus  products,  if  retained,  may  be  impressed 
by  the  Government,  at  the  rates  prescribed  by  the  State  appraisers, 
constitutes  the  strongest,  as  it  is  nearly  the  only,  inducement  to 
holders  to  sell  at  market  rates.  Setting  aside  feelings  of  humanity 
and  patriotism,  which,  to  a  creditable  degree,  may  induce  sales,  and 
testing  the  matter  by  the  general  motive  of  self-interest  alone,  this  is 
a  plain  matter  of  calculation.  Who' would  sell,  unless  forced  by  a 
present  necessity  for  the  money,  when  constant  adv&nce  in  the  price 
of  the  product  is  sure,  and  the  money,  if  received  at  once,  is  no  less 
certain  of  its  depreciation  before  the  occasion  of  its  future  use.  The 
difficulty,  therefore,  with  the  consumer,  as  with  the  Government,  is 
the  redundancy  of  the  currency,  and  the  consequent  steady  inflation 
of  prices.  This,  in  its  direct,  and  even  more,  in  its  indirect  influences, 
not  merely  on  the  market  and  on  the  property  of  citizens,  but  on  their 
instincts  of  selfishness,  or  their  sentiments,  tastes  and  aspirations,  is 
a  fearful  evil,  and  more  demoralizing  to  our  people  than  the  more  dire 
calamities  of  war.  It  pei tail, s  to  another  branch  of  the  Government, 
and  to  an  abler  mind,  to  portray  this  subject  in  its  true  colors,  and  to 
propose  correctives;  but  a3  the  mischief  weighs  as  a  paralysis  on  the 
energies  of  this  Department,  I  may  he  excused  for  saying,  that,  in 
rny  judgment,  the  sole  effective  remedy  is  prompt  reduction  of  the 
existing  issues  to  the  amount  needed  for  currency  by  the  people  of 
rhe  Confederacy,  and  the  inflexible  determination  and  pledge  never  to 
exceed  it.  No  mode  of  utilizing  the  credit  of  the  Confederacy  can 
be  so  wasteful,  as  the  enhancement  of  all  prices  by  a  constantly 
increasing  ratio,  or  so  mischievous  as  the  subversion  of  the  standard 
of  values,  tempting  all  into  the  wild  whirl  of  speculation,  and  corrod- 
ing by  the  vile  greed  of  gaiii  all  the  nobler  elements  of  character.  If 
the  present  system  bo  continued,  prices,  already  many  hundred  per 
.•cut.  above  true  values,  must  he  indefinitely  enhance^,  the  credit  of  the 
Government  must  be  wrecked  utterly,  and  no  alternative  left  for  the 
continuance  of  our  patriotic  struggl",  and  the  preservation  of  our 
lives  and  liberties,  but  grinding  taxation,  and"  the  systematized  seizure, 
without  present  compensation,  of  all  supplies  needed  for  the  employees, 
as  well  as  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy. 

The  necessity  of  reliance  on  impressment,  as  the  ordinary  mode  of 
supply,  it  is  trusted  will,  by  judicious  legislation,  soon  be  obviated  ; 
but  as  it  may,  at  all  times,  be  of  occasional  necessity  and  employment, 
it  is  desirable  that  the  law  should  be  perfected  in  some  of  its  features. 
In  the  coufidence  felt,  with  justice   in  the  main,  in   the  deference  of 


25 

our  people  for  law,  and  in  their  patriotic  disposition  to  comply  with 
the  requirements  for  their  defence,  Congress  has  made  imperfect  pro- 
vision as  to  the  mode  of  procedure  for  its  enforcement,  especially  when 
evaded  or  resisted.  It  is  very  important  that  the  enforcement  of  all 
laws;,  even  those  having  direct  connection  with  military  affairs,  should 
not  look  to,  or  be  dependent  in  the  first  instance  on.  the  sanction  of 
armed  force,  but  should  be  attained  by  civil  procedures,  and  the  regu- 
lar administration  of  justice.  The  absence  of  such  provisions  in  this 
law  has  compelled  the  Department  to  frame  and  issue  regulations 
assimilating  the  proceedings  to  civR  administration,  which  regulations 
part  ike  more  the  character  of  legislation  than  is  felt  to  be  appropriate 
to  military  orders.  They  have  been  acquiesced  in  with  commendable 
recognition  of  their  aim  by  the  public,  but  it  is  preferable  they,  or  more 
prefect  provisions,  should  have  the  legislative  sanction. 

The  tax  in  kind,  which  was  adopted  in  some  measure  to  obviate  the 
issue  of  notes  and  the  resort  to  impressment,  has  beeji  as  yet  but  mea- 
surably operative;  but  "beneficial  results  have  so  far  followed,  and  greater 
are  expected  to  flow  from  its  application.  Delays  have  resulted,  it  is 
believed,  from  inevitable  causes  for  the  most  part,  in  the  lists  of  assess- 
ment to  be  made  by  the  officers  of  the  Treasury,  and  handed  over  to 
the  quartermasters.  To  obviate  these,  and  realize  early  supplies, 
invitations  were  extended  to  all  producers  to  deliver  spontaneously  to 
the  quartermasters  and  commissaries,  what  they  considered  as  their 
tythes,  for  which  receipts  would  be  given,  to  be  allowed  in  evidence  of 
delivery  on  the  future  reception  of  the  assessor's  lists.  To  some 
extent,  this  invitation  has  been  responded  to,  and  has  relieved,  so  far, 
the  Department  from  the  necessity  of  impressing  supplies,  and  had 
lightened  the  labor  of  future  deliveries.  Owing  to  reluctance,  how- 
ever, generally  felt  by  producers,  either  to  indicate  the  extent  of  their 
crops,  or  to  prepare  them  for  market,  from  both  the  fear  of  impress- 
ment, and  the  indisposition  to  sell,  deliveries  before  assessment  have 
been  less  prevalent  than  was  anticipated.  It  i3  yet  too  early  to  form 
any  reliable  estimates  of  the  amounts  of  supplies  that  may  be  counted 
on  from  this  tax,  but  it  is  certain  that  the  loss  of  several  productive 
districts,  the  wanton  ravages  of  the  enemy  in  others,  and  an  unfavor-* 
able  season  for  growth  in  considerable  regions  of  the  Confederacy, 
must  materially  lesson  the  supplies  that  were  calculated  on  from  this 
source.  Enough'  has  been  realized  to  justify  the  wisdom  cf  the  impo- 
sition of  this  tax,  and  as  earnest  injunctions  have  been  given  to  both 
assessors  and  collectors  to  expedite,  as  far  as  practicable,  their  opera- 
tions, it  is  hoped  sufficient  returns  may  be  obtained,  at  an,  early  day, 
to  direct  the  future  legislate  n  of  Congress  to  the  attainment  of  larger 
supplies  by  this  mode  of  taxation.  Its  increase  would  evidently  con- 
tribute* to  the  financial  relief  of  the  government,  while  a  larger  con- 
tribution in  kind,  if  only  equitably  apportioned  in  comparison  with 
the  impositions  on  other  classes,  would  probably  prove  to  the  producers 
the  most  acceptable  mode  of  taxation. 

The  inflation  of  the  currency  and  inordinate  prices  of  all  supplies, 
have  caused  to  the  Department  a  painful  embarrassment  from  the 
inadequacy  of  the  salaries  and  allowances  to  its  clerks  and  employees, 


26 

to  maintain  them.  Single  men  in  such  positions  are  barely  able  to. 
sub  ist  on  their  official  compensation,  and  those  with  families,  when 
without  other  means,  have  been  obliged  to  yield  their  places,  depend 
on  the  charity  of  friends,  or  suffer  dire  privations.  Cases  of  such 
real  suffering  have  resulted  from  this  cause,  that  it  would  be  culpable 
remissness,  or  unfeeling  obduracy,  not  to  urge  earnestly  a  more  just 
provision  fc  r  them.  Their  whole  time  and  labor  are  given  with  a  zeal, 
devotion,  and  industry,  rarely  surpassed,  to  the  toilsome  and  unosten- 
tatious duties  of  the  bureaus  and  offices.  Means,  ac  least,  of  subsis- 
tence and  lodging  should  be  accorded  without  delay,  by  the  Government, 
to  such  faithful  laborers. 

The  administration  of  the  Department,  in  all  its  extensive  opera- 
tions, has  been  greatly  impeded  by  the  deficiency  of  transportation, 
especially  on  the  railroads.  Shut  off  from  the  sea,  and  with  command 
of  very  few  of  its -rivers,  the  Confederacy  is  dependent  almost  wholly 
on  the  railroads  for  communication  and  transportation.  The  roads 
were  not  constructed  with  reference  to  such  extensive  needs,  and  even 
in  time  of  peace,  with  all  facilities  of  supplies  and  repairs,  would  have 
been  inadequate ato  such  duties.  How  much  less  in  time  of  war,  with 
every  drawback  of  deficient  labor,  insufficient  stock,  defective  machinery 
and  scant  supplies,  and  with  exposure  often  to  seizures  or  spoliations 
by  the  enemy,  could  they  be  expected  to  meet  such  unprecedented 
requirements.  It  must  be  matter  of  surprise  and  gratification, 
that  they  have  sustained  themselves  so  well,  and  have  afforded  to  the 
Government  and  the  people  the  measure  of  accommodation  they  have. 
It  is  but  a  just  tribute  to  them  to  say,  that  in  the  main,  they  have 
been  managed  in  a  patriotic  spirit,  and  have  rarely  failed  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  the  government  with  alacrity  and  zeal.  It  has  not 
been  necessary  during  the  year  to  exercise  the  large  discretionary 
powers  of  control  vested  by  Congress  in  the  Executive  over  the  rail- 
roads, for  if  repugnancy  existed  to  the  just  demands  of  the  Govern- 
ment, the  known  possession  of  such  powers  has  sufficed  to  exact  com- 
pliance.  But  while  the  .dispositions  of  the  railroad  companies  have 
been  good,  their  means  have  been  gradually  becoming  less.  The  Gov- 
ernment has  already  given  to  many  some  aid,  but  will  have  hereafter 
to  render  fuller  and  more  constant  assistance.  Some  of  the  minor 
roads  will  have  to  be  sacrificed  to  keep  up  the  tracks  of  the  leading 
lines.  Iron  will  have  to  be  provided  and  rolled  for  machinery,  and 
the  construction  and  repair  of  locomotives  and  rolling  stock.  Skilled 
mechanics,  to  some  extent,  will  have  to  be  furnished  from  the  army, 
and  lor  some  of  the  more  delicate  machinery  needed  by  them,  importa- 
tions from  abroad  may  have  to  be  attempted.  With  these  aids,  it  is 
hoped  they  may  not  only  be  maintained,  but  improved  in  their  means 
of  transportation.  The  lowest  point  of  depression  has  probably 
passed.  For  the  first  year  or  more,  under  the  delusive  expectation  of 
the  early  termination'of  the  war,  the  companies  relied  almost  wholly 
on  their  existing  stock,  and  made  few  efforts  at  supply  or  reparation. 
They  scarcely  husbanded  their  resources,  which,  under  the  exhausting 
demands  made  on  them,  became  greatly  diminished.  Of  late,  with 
more  experience,  a  wiser  prescience  guides  their  management,  and, 


besides  practising  economy  of  means,  they  are  sedulously  engaged  in 
endeavoring  to  increase  their  stock,  and  to  provide  for  the  contingen- 
cies of  future  service  or  loss.  In  their  best  estate,  they  will  not  be 
able  to  furnish  adequate  facilities  of  transportation  for  both  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  people.  From  considerations  of  public  utility  and 
supreme  duty,  as  well  as  from  their  dependence  on  the  aid  of  the  gov- 
ernment, they  should  be  required  by  law,  as  nearly  all  have  engaged 
by  contract,  to  give  preference,  in  all  cases,  to  Government  freight,  so 
as  to  command  all  their  means  of  transport,  when  necessary.  Beyond 
that,  it  is  the  fixed  rule  of  the  Department  to  make  no  exaction  on 
them,  and  to  attempt  no  regulation  of  their  surplus  means  of  transpor- 
tation, or  to  award  no  special  privileges  to  any  in  their  use,  but  leave 
such  free  to  the  discretion  and  management  of  their  officers.  On  this 
subject  misconception  has  often  prevailed,  and  the  charge  of  favoritism 
has  been  alleged  against  the  Department,  but  on  no  point  has  inflexi- 
bility been  moi%3  steadfastly  maintained,  and  all  special  privileges 
denied.  » 

It  will  have  been  noted,  that  in  nearly  all  the  branches  of  supply, 
we  are  not  yet  exempt  from  dependence,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
on  foreign  importations.  These  can  only  be  obtained  by  the  com- 
mand of  sterling  funds  or  exchanges  on  foreign  countries,  and  be 
introduced  by  evasion  of  the  existing  blockade.  Without  credit  in 
foreign  countries  so  established  as  to  enable  the  Government  to  borrow 
without  great  sacrifice,  if  at  all,  and  with  the  difference  of  exchange 
appreciating  daily  to  a  ruinous  rate,  it  became  early  apparent  to  me 
that  recourse  must  be  had  to  our  great  staple  products,  which  in  the 
markets  of  the  world  were  readily  exchangeable  for  coin.*  They  had 
only  to  be  placed  abroad,  and  the  same  means  which  exported  them 
would  serve  for  the  necessary  importations.  The  business  of  evading 
the  blockade  had  previously  been  in  private  hands  alone,  and  while 
precarious,  had  been,  under  skilful  charge,  a  source  of  enormous 
profits.  So  excessive  had  become  the  rates  of  freight  and  exchange, 
that  on  calculation' it  was  found,  that  the  mere  charge,  independent  of 
the  cost  of  the  cargo,  for  the  freightage  of  a  steamer  of  three  hundred 
tons  from  the  West  India  Islands  to  one  of  our  ports,  were  to  the 
Government  upwards  of  two  millions  of  dollars  in  its  currency.  Un- 
d  r  these  circumstances,  the  Department  did  not  hesitate  to  inaugurate 
the  plain  policy  of  evading  the  blockade  with  steamers  purchased  and 
run  by  its  officers.  The  limited  means  at  the  command  of  the  Depart- 
ment abroad,  which  could  be  spared  foim  the  necessity  of  procuring 
immediate  supplies,  were  employed  in  purchasing  several  steamers. 
,  under  competent  officers,  were  at  once  engaged  in  exporting 
cotton  and  importing  supplies.  The  number  which  the  means  of  the 
rtment  could  command  were  far  too  few  to  meet  its  requirements, 
and  contracts  were  made  with  capitalists  to  provide  and  engage  in  the 
trade,  other  steamers,  in  which  the  Department  took  an  interest,  to 
be  paid  for  in  cotton,  either  to  be  delivered  here  or  to  be  exported  in 
them.  In  this  way,  while  more  vessels  were  induced  to  venture  in 
the  business  of  evading  the  blockade,  a  controlling  influence  was 
secured  over  the  importations  made  in  them  for  private  account.      This 


28 

■ 

constituted  an  important  consideration  for  the  public  good,  as   under 
the  temptations  merely  of  private  interest,  it  had  been  found  that  to 
a  great  extent,  articles  cf  mere  luxury  or  noxious  use,  as  'iquors,  from 
the  superior  profits  they  afforded,  rather  than  goods  of  real   utility  to 
the  people,  were  introduced  by  the  steamers  of  private  traders.      The 
steamers  owned  by  the  Department,  four  in  number,  were,  for  a  long 
time,  run  between  Wilmington  and  the   Islands    with   signal   success, 
and  almost  the  regularity   of  packets.      The   profits  by  the   outward 
and  the  saving  by.  the  inward  trips  to  the  Department  were  very  great, 
as  at  each  trip,  according  to  the  current  rates,  the  value  of  the  vessel 
was  fully  reimbursed.     It  is  a   moderate  calculation  to  estimate  the 
gain  thus  effected  for  the  Department,  as  upwards  of  twenty  millions 
of  dollars  in  currency.      Still  the  quantity  of  cotton  which   could  be 
carried  out  by  the  steamers,  owned  or  held  in  part  by  the  Department, 
by  mo  means  supplied  the  sterling  which  was  required  abroad  for  the 
wants  of  the  Government,  and  the  experiments  made,  had  only  served 
to  demonstrate  what  resources  for  establishing  credit  and  commanding 
funds  abroad,  could  be  afforded  by  larger  exportations  of  our   staple 
products,  cotton  and  tobacco.     About  the  same  time  too,  the  closing 
of  the  port  of  Charleston  by  the  successful  operations   of  the   enemy 
on  Morris  Island,  caused  apprehensions  that  the  business   of  evading 
the  blockade  would  soon  become  more  difficult  and  precarious.      This 
made  it  more  important  to  place  abroad,  as  rapidly  as  possible,  a  stock 
of  cotton,  which  would  afford   means   of  commanding   large   supplies, 
while  they  could  be  introduced.      The  Department  therefore,   in   con- 
junction with  the  Hon.  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who  fully  appreciated 
this  mode  of  supplying  the  demands  of  his  Department  for  sterling, 
proposed,  and  succeeded  in  effecting  arrangements  with  the  companies 
and  merchants  engaged  in  evading   the  blockade  on  private  account, 
by  which,  on  fair  terms  of  freight,  payable  partly  in   cotton   here  and 
partly  in  drafts  on  the  cotton  taken  out  by  them,   they  undertook  on 
every  voyage  to  take  out,  some  a   third,    and   some   one   half  of  their 
cargoes  of  cotton  for  the  Government,  and  likewise  placed  at  the  com- 
mand of  the   Government    a    fair    proportion    of  their    capacities  for 
freight  on  the  return 'trip,  for  the   importation    of  its   supplies.     The 
Department  was  aided  in  effecting  this  arrangement,  not  only  by  the 
patriotic  feelings  of  the  private  owners,  but  also   by   the   facilities   it 
was  enabled  to  afford  them  in  commanding  cargoes  of  cotton  without 
unnecessary  delays,  through  the  preference  in  transportation  given  by 
the  railroads  to  cotton  ordered  by  the  Government.     Hence  in  view  of 
the  importance  of  continuing  these  arrangements   with   private   mer- 
chants, it  has  become  more  than   ever   essential  that  the   priority   of 
transportation  on  the  railroads  should  be  maintained   to   the   Govern- 
ment, for  under  present  laws,   by   that   preference    alone    can  these 
arrangements  for  the  exportation,  of  cotton  be  continued. 

These  arrangements  were  made  in  good  time,  for,  as  anticipated, 
the  blockade  of  Wilmington,  the  port  of  the  Confederacy  best  adapted 
for  evading  the  blockade,  has  been  of  late  more  stringent.  All  the 
blockading  ships  of  the  enemy  have  been  transferred  from  Charleston, 
and,  within  the  last  two  months,  a  considerable  number  of  steamers, 


29 

among  thern  those  belonging  to  the  Department,  have  been  captured, 
or  destroyed  to  prevent  .their  falling  into  the  hands- of  the  enemy. 
While  the  risk  is  now  certainly  increased,  still  with  the  additional 
steamers  which  the  contracts  with  the  Government  or  the  temptations 
of  private  gain  has  brought  into  the  trade,  it  is  believed  the  blockade 
may  be  evaded,  so  far  as  to  add  greatly  to  our  resources  abroad  from 
the  exportation  of  our  staple,  and  to  bring  in  the  supplies  needed  by 
the  Government.  Measures,  meantime,  are  being  taken  to  increase 
the  facilities  of  entrance  into  the  port,  by  the  use  of  moveable  batte- 
ries of  Whitworth  guns,  of  long  range,  along  the  coast,  and  to  endan- 
ger the  safety  of  the  blockading  vessels. 

So  long  as  our  staples  can  be  exported,  and  supplies  introduced  with 
reasonable  exemption  from  capture,  there  cannot  be  aijuestion  of  the 
policy  of  pursuing  the  venture,  and  v\hen  all  the  advantage  to  our 
credit  abroad,  and  to  our  means  of  resistance  within  the  Confederacy, 
are  estimated,  it  may  be  well  questioned  whether  the  vA'de  trade 
should  not  be  subjected  by  law  to  equitable  regulation,  so  as  to  secure 
to  the  Government  a  fair  proportion  of  the  profits  resulting  from  all 
shipments.  As  the  trade  could  not  be  carried  on  at  aU  except  to  for- 
tified cities,*  and  through  the  special  protection  afforded  by  the  arma- 
ments of  the  government,  the  benefits  derived  by  the  Government 
would  be  only  a  reasonable  return.  The  regulation  of  the  trade., 
both  to  secure  a  participation  in  the  profits  to  the  Government,  and 
to  require  the  introduction  mainly  of  articles  of  use  or  necessity,  in- 
stead of  luxuries  and  noxious  liquors,  it  is  believed  is  demanded  by 
the  general  sentiment  of  the  countrj%  and  would  be  readily  acquiesced 
in  by  the  sense  of  justice  and  patriotic  feelings  of  the  merchants  en- 
gaged in  the  trade. 

The  business  of  export  and  import  for  the  Department  became  so 
large  and  important  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  devote  officers  of 
the  Department  and  special  agents  at  Wilmington  to  its  management. 
It  has  grown  almost  a  separate  branch  of  administration  in  the  depart- 
ment, and  to  be  nearly  assimilated  to  a  separate  bureau.  While  thus 
it  has  been  conducted  with  success,  some^erious  practical  inconveni- 
ences have  resulted  from  not  having  a  separate  officer  or  bureau  es- 
tablished by  law,  and  specially  charged  with  the  whole  business.  All 
the  bureaus  depending,  in  some  measure,  on  foreign  supplies,  have 
been  interested  in  the  operations  thus  conducted,  and  all  have  had  to 
contribute  out  of  their  appropriations,  according  to  their  interest,  in 
providing  means  for  the  purchase  of  ships  and  cargoes,  and,  as  under 
the  Interruptions  of  the  blockade,  the  exact  proportions  in  which  car- 
goes are  furnished  are  not  known  for  a  long  time,  and  when  the  ves- 
sels are  lost  can  never  be  precisely  ascertained,  great  difficulties 
exist  in  settling  and  apportioning  the  credits  and  charges  to  each. 
Thiek;  apt  to  create  dissatisfaction,  as  well  as  irregularities  in  the  ac- 
count*, of  each  bureau.  It  would  manifestly  {.'j  simpler  and  more 
satisfactory  that  the  business  should  be  made  a  separate  one,  under 
the  control  of  a  competent  head,  that  appropriations  should  be  made 
directly  for  its  operations,  all  sales  and  purchases  abroad  be  made  un- 
der his  instructions,  and  that,  providing  means  abroad,  he  should  be 


30 

only  called  ou  by  the  bureaus  for  their  appropriate  supplies.  When 
it  is  considered  to  what  extent  cotton  and  other  staples  have  to  be 
purchased  and  forwarded  in  the  Confederacy,  arrangements  for  pro- 
curing and  running  ships,  or  contracting  with  the  owners  of  vessels 
in  the  trade  to'  bo  negotiated,  shipments  and  sales  in  foreign  csuntries 
to  be  effected,  and  purchases  and  importations  made  from  abroad,  it 
will  be  readily  seen  that  the  business  requires  an  able  head,  and  will 
constitute  by  no  means  the  least  important  branch  of  administration 
pertaining  to  the  Department. 

A  proper  officer,  as  well  as  judicious  regulations,  are  likewise* desi- 
rable for  the  conduct  of  the  trade  in  cotton  and  supplies  between 
Texas  and  Mexico.  The  law  leaves  the  trade  entirely  free,  but  as  the 
•export  of  cotton  affords  almost  the  only  means  of  obtaining  supplies 
for  the  trans- j\^is«is?ippi  department,  the  generals  commanding  there 
have  felt  themselves  under  the  necessity  of  prescribing  regulations 
and  conditions  for  the  conduct  of  the  trade.  This  was  rendered  the 
more  necatsary  from  the  limited  means  of  transport  which  could  be 
commanded,  and  which,  without  some  restriction,  there  was  danger 
would  be  engrossed  by  private  parties,  eager  to  participate  in  a  most 
lucrative  trade,  or  to  remove  beyond  the  contingencies  of  war,  the 
funds  realized  by  them  from  the  conversion  of  their  property  in  the 
Confederacy.  The  regulations  imposed  by  military  authority  were, 
however,  ragarded  by  many,  whose  pursuit  of  gain  was  hindered,  as 
vexatious  and  illegal,  and  produced  such  complaint  and  dissatisfac- 
tion that  they  were  abrogated  by  the  Department.  The  necessities  of 
that  command  now,  more  than  ever,  require  the  control  of  this  trade 
and  its  direction  to  the  supply  of  funds  and  stores  for  its  military 
needs  The  trade  should  either  be  carried  on  directly  by  competent 
officers  of  the  Department,  or  conducted  on  conditions  or  by  permits 
that  would  secure  to  the  Government  as  its  results  necessary  credits 
and  supplies  from  abroad. 

In  o'her  points  likewise,  comprehensive  legislation  will  bo  required 
for  the  proper  administration  of  the  military  affairs  in  the  trans- 
Mississippi  Department.  Since,  by  the  interuption  of  command  over 
the  Mississippi  river  by  the  .enemy,  facilities  of  communication  with 
the  more  eastern  States  and  the  seat  of  Government,  are  greatly 
diminished.  In  anticipation  of  such  contingency,  as  already  stated, 
arrangements,  months  prior  to  our  reverses  in  Mississippi,  had  been 
initiated  by  this  Department  to  make  as  far  as  practicable,  the 
trans-Mississippi  department  self-sustaining,  and  capable  of  separate 
administration.  Foundries,  manufactories  of  arms,  powder  mills  and 
workshops,  as  well  as  exportation^  for  mines  and  nitrous  earths  had 
been  instituted,  and  while  some  have  been  already  in  successful  opera- 
tion, others  were  in  progress  of  early  completion.  To  conduct  and 
further  complete  these  various  branches  of  military  administration, 
it  is  desirable  that  separate  offices  under  competent  heads,  should  be 
established.  Indeed,  so  far  is  this  Department  insolated  and  severed 
from  direct  communication  with  the  Department  here,  that  it  is  deemed 
judicious,  some  extraordinary  powers  of  military  administration  should 
be  entrusted  to  the  general  commanding",   and  that  office  assimilated 


31 

to  the  Bureau  of  the  Department  here,  under  his  immediate  super- 
vision, yet  reporting  as  opportunities  offer  to  the  heads  of  the  corres- 
ponding Bureaus  here,  so  as  to  preserve  harmony  and  conformity  of 
action,  should  be  constituted  by  law.  A  separate  office  should 
certainly  be  established  there  for  the  conscript  service,  and  either  the 
conscripts  be  directed  to  be  appropriated  entirely  to  the  organizations 
west  of  the  Mississippi  river,  or  some  ratio  of  .apportionment,  as  well 
as  mode  of  sending  recruits  to  the  organizations  on  this  side,  be  pre- 
scribed. It  may  be  necessery,  too,  to  give  some  unusual  power  of 
recommending  and  assigning  officers  to  service, -subject  to  the  future 
approval  and  action  of  the  Executive.  By  these  means,  it  is  believed 
that  serious  embarrassments  and  inconveniences  from  the  isolation  of 
that  Department  will  be  remedied. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  severance  of  the  States  west  of  the 
Mississippi  from  those  of  the  east,  has  caused  no  abatement  in  their 
devotion  to  the  Confederacy,  their  confidence  in  its  cause,  or  in  their 
spirit  or  resolution  to  achieve  a  common  independence.  Entire  har- 
mony and  co-operation  prevail  between  the  Confederate  aivi  State 
authorities  there,  and  in  the  valor  of  their  soldiers,  the  ability  of 
their  generals,  the  patriotism  and  hardy,  resolute  character  of  their 
people,  the  wide  expanse  and  impracticable  nature  of  their  territories^ 
and  the  great,  though  only  partially  developed  resources  of  their 
Country,  all  find  an  assured  augury  ot  ultimate  triumph. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  state  that  our  relations  with  the 
Indians,  under  the  protection  of  this  Government,  continue  to  be  of 
a  satisfactory  character.  Though  there  have  been  some  instances  of 
disturbances  among  individuals,  as  was  to  be  expected  under  the 
machinations  of  our  enemies  and  the  withdrawal  of  our  troops  from 
the  coterminous  territory  under  military  operations  in  adjoining 
States,  yet  Mr.  Scott,  our  Indian  Agent,  who  has  just  returned  from 
a  visit  to,  and  a  sojourn  among  them  of  some  months,  gives  assurance 
that  they  continue  unshaken  in  their  loyalty  to  the  Government,  and 
in  their  devotion  to  our  cause  and  sacred  rights.  His  report  accom- 
panying this,  will  furnished  details  of  interest. 

The  estimates  for  the  expenditures  of  this  Department,  for  the  six 
months,  from  January  1st,  to  June  3l>th,  1864,  are  herewith  trans- 
mitted. The  amount  is  large,  but,  at  the  existing  rate  of  prices, 
certainly  not  greater  than  is  required  to  maintain  the  armies  cf  the 
Confederacy  in  a  state  of  efficiency.  Indeed,  if  there  be  a  continu- 
ance of  the  constantly  accelerating  advance  in  the  cost  of  all  supplies 
that  has  attended  the  inflation  of  the  past  year,  these  estimates  will 
scarce  prove-  adequate  to  the  wants  of  the  Department.  Should, 
however,  there  be  a  reduction  of  the  currency  to  the  actual  needs  of 
the  country  and  its  maintenance  on  a -stable  basis,  these  estimates 
may  be  largely  reduced.  Such  policy  is  the  only  mode  of  correcting 
this,  as  the  many  other  resulting  evils  of  our  redundant  currency. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  the  shifting  fortune  of  war  has 
brought  reverse  to  our  army  in  northern  Georgia,  near  the  theatre  of  its 
late  great  triumph.  While  a  large  portion  of  our  forces  were  engaged 
in  improving  their  victory  by  the   expulsion  of  the  enemy  from  east 


32 

Tennessee,  and  on  the  eve,  as  appeared,  of  entire  success,  the  enemy 
accumulated  large  reinforcements  within  their  beleaguered  lines  at 
Chattanooga.  With  overwhelming  numbers  thev  assailed  our  army 
in  position  before  them,  and  though  meeting  bloody  repulses  on 
either  wing,  carried  the  position  when  weakened  in  the  centre. 
This  unexpected  reverse  seems  to  have  caused  something  of  panic  in 
a  portion  of  our  troops  dreading  to  be  cut  oif.  and  Jed  to  a  hasty  re- 
treat of  the  whole  army  with  considerable  loss  both  in  men  and  matc- 
rial.  The  enemy  pressed  their  advantage  with  alacrity,  and  were 
pursuing  with  exultation  and  confidence,  when  they  were  encountered 
by  one  of  our  unshaken  divisions  and  driven  back  with  fearful  loss, 
in  confusion  and  dismay.  This  more  than  checked  their  advance,  for 
it  compelled  the  rapid  retreat  of  their  whole  army,  with  all  the  at- 
tendant indications  of  dreaded  pursuit,  tjehind  the  lines  of  Chica- 
mauga,  where  they  have  since  remained.  Meantime,  deep  interest 
concentrates  on  the  events  occurring  in  east  Tennessee,  where  it  is 
yet  uncertain  whether  our  disas'ers  in  frcmt  of  Chattanooga  may  not 
haw  compelled  the  sudden  retreat  of  our  forces,  when*  on  the  eve  of 
consummating  their  work,  by  the  capture  of  Knoxville  with  General 
Burnside  and  his  arm}'. 

Mevementa  of  the  enemy  on  the  Rappahannock  have  again  proven 
the  invicible  army  of  Northern  Virginia,  under  its  consummate  com- 
mander, the  sure  bulwark  of  tke  capital.  Emboldened  by  some  par- 
tial success,  the  results  to  us  of  incaution  or  over-confidence,  the 
Federal  army  crossed  the  Rapidan  in  full  force  and  with  every  indica- 
tion of  making,  by  battlle,  an  open  way  to  Richmond.  General  Lee 
was  prompt  to  offer  them  the  coveted  opportunity,  but  while  they  ven- 
tured to  confront,  they  dared  not  encounter  the  veterans  before  whom 
they  had  so  often  recoiled  in  defeat  and  humiliation.  After  their 
vaunting  manifestation,  they  have  ignominiously  slunk  off  under  cover 
of  night,  and  again  sought  an  inglorious  shelter  in  their  lines  beyond 
the  river. 

A  fair  review  of  the  varied  events  of  the  year  should  cause  no 
abatement  of  confidence  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  our  cause.  Our 
very  reverses,  as  already  stated,  will  only  demonstrate  to  our  enemies 
the  futility  of  their  aims  and  the  vanity  of  their  hopes.  A  brave 
people,  commanding  a  territory  of  such  extent  and  resources,  never 
have  been,  and  while  true  to  themselves  and  their  liberties,  never  can 
•  be  subjugated.  Those  reverses,  however,  admonish  our  people,  as 
they  woull  avoid  the  desolating  ravages  and  costly  bloodshed  of  pro- 
tracted war,  to  unite  their  wills  and  concentrate  their  energies  and 
resources  to  the  grand  aim  of  expelling  the  ivader.  We  have  only  to 
will  and  to  dare  as  one  man,  and  our  work  is  sure  of  accomplishment. 
Every  motive  and  incentive  that  can  fire  the  soul  or  nerve  the  arm  of 
man  are  urgent  upon  us.  All  that  is  dear  to  humanity,  property, 
honor,  wives,  children  and  homes — nay,  the  very  lives  of  the  present 
and  the  hopes  of  future  generations,  for  us  are  staked  on  success. 
The  malignant  intents  of  the  foe  would  exterminate  or  debase  us, 
through  the  insolent  lordship  of  our  slaves,  to  the  mastery  of  hi^ 
brutal  despostism.     No  alternative  exists  but  stern  defiance   and  un- 


33 

flinching  resistance.  Our  only,  as  our  certain  safety,  is  in  victory. 
Every  impediment  should  be  cast  aside.  The  insatiate  spirit  of  greed 
must  be  exercised.  Distrust  and  despondency  be  displaced  by  the  con- 
fidence of  invincible  resolve  and  the  might  of  a  firm  faith.  Our  means 
without  stint,  and  our  men  without  favor  or  affection,  must  be  ren- 
dered to  the  cause.  Etch  man  should  rise  to  the  height  of  a  supreme 
duty,  counting  all  cost  as  gain,  and  exulting  in  every  sacrifice  that  shall 
free  us  forever  from  loathsome  association  with  a  despicable  people, 
and  establish  the  Confederacy  of  our  chioce  on  the  basis  of  approved 
strength,  in  permanent  fruition  of  peace,  prosperity  and  independ- 
ence. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

JAMES  A.  SEDDON. 

Secretary  of  War. 
3 


REPO RT 


OF    THE 


COMMISSIONER  OF  INDIAN  AFFAIRS. 


Confederate  Stvtes  of  America,  War  Department, 
Office  of  Indian  Affairs,  December  7,  1863. 

Hon.  James  A.  Seddon,  Secretary  of  War : 

S(R  :  I  have  the  honor  to  submit,  for  your  consideration,  the  cus- 
tomary annual  report  on  Indian  affairs. 

The  sum  of  $233, 56w  oo  was  appropriated  at  the  last  session  of 
Congress  to  comply  with  treaty  obligations,  and  to  meet  the  legitimate 
incidental  expenses  of  the  Indian  service  arising  therefrom,  to  June 
SO,  IS63.  and  the  further  sum  of  $117,920  00  for  similar  purposes 
to  December  31,  1863.  No  part  of  the  latter  appropriation  has  yet 
been  touched ;  of  the  former,  there  has  been  used,  as  designed  by 
Congress,  the  sum  of  $193,925  57. 

The  estimates  from  this  office,  for  the  Indian  service,  to  June  3D, 
1864,  amount  to  $232,660  57. 

Affairs  in  the  Indian  Territory  are  by  no  means  in  a  satisfactory 
state.  This  is  mainly  attributable  to  the  interruption  of  its  free  and 
easy  communication  with  Richmond,  and  the  occupation  of  a  large 
part  of  the  country  by  the  enemy.  In  the  face,  however,  of  all  these 
troubles,  the  Indians  generally  have  lost  nono  of  their  faith  in  the 
good  will  and  integrity  of  the  Government,  and  do  full  justice  to  its 
exertions  in  their  behalf. 

Your  attention  is  especially  called  to  the  condition  of  the  Chero- 
kees.  By  the  disloyalty  of  John  Ross,  the  Principal  Chief,  the  Cher- 
okee Nation  was  split  in  twain  ;  and  about  one  half,  embracing  the 
greater  part  of  the  full  bloods,  went  over  to  the  enemy.  These 
hostile  In  lians — generally  called  "  Pin"  Indians,  from  a  secret  aboli- 
tion organization,  which  existed  among  thetn  prior  to  tho  commence- 
ment of  the  present  war,  the  members  of  which  were  known  to  the 
initiated  by  a  pin  displayed  in  a  particular  and  conspicuous  place  upon 
their  clothing — by. tho  aid  of  the  white  and  negro  forces  of  the  enemy, 


36 

are  now  in  complete  possession  of  the  Cherokee  country.  The  wives 
ami  children  of  those,  who  have  kept  their  plighted  faith  with  thia 
Government,'  and  who  (or  at  least  all  of  them  capable  of  bearing 
arm-)  aic  in  the  Confederate  service,  have  been  driven  from  their 
homes,  and  are  now  scattered  over  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  countries, 
in  many  instances,  without  shelter,  without  clothing,  without  money, 
an  I  depending  wholly  upon  the  provisions  furnished  them  b\  he 
gen-  ral  in  command  of  the  Indian  Territory,  to  keep  them  f  in 
Starving.  Their  situation  is  truly  deplorable,  and  when  taken  in  >- 
nection  with  other  facts,  which  will  be  hereinafter  stated,  appeals  ■ 
Btrongly  to  the  Government  for  relief. 

The  Cherokeea  receive  the  benefit  of  no  annual  payments  from  ne 
Confederate  States,  as  is  the  case  with  the  Choctaws,  Chicka  irs, 
Creek  at  least   these  payments  are  so  insignificant   in   am       it, 

being  less  than  one  thousand  dollars,  that  they  maybe  regarde  ia 
Both  ng.  Unlike  the  other  loyal  nations,  they  are  entitled  I  qo 
annuities,  either  perpetually,  for  a  term  of  years,  or  at  the  ph-,;  ni-e 
■of  the  President;  nor  have  they  any  large  portion  of  their  funds  lying 
in  the  United  States  Treasury  uninvested,  or  invested  in  stocks  . ■>  be 
(United  States,  or  in  those  of  any  cf  the  Northern  States,  the  in  t 

upOn  which  this  Government,  by  treaty,  has  engaged  to  pay  annually 
to  the  nation  owning  the  same  ;  but  they  have  their  funds  almost  wholly 
invested  in  the  stocks  of  certain  of  the  States  of  this  Confederal 

By  the  treaty  with  the  Cherokees,  the  Confederate  Government, 
after  1864,  the  year  for  which  the  first  payment  was  to  be  mad  to 
them,  only  assumed  the  duty  and  obligation  of  collecting  and  pay  ng 
over,  as  trustee,  the  interest  upon  their  funds,  which  were  tiius 
iri\>  ted.  It  may  be  well  to  state  in  this  connection,  also  that  the 
Government  only  agreed  in  its  treaties  with  other  Indian  Nations  to 
collect  and  pay  over  the  interest  due,  or  which  might  thereafter  be  due 
them  upon  stocks  of  a  similar  character. 

In  article  fortjrfivc  of  the  Cherokee  Treaty,  after  a  statement  of  all 

the  investments  and  funds  of  the  Cherokees  in  the  possession  of  the 

United  States,  and  providing  for  an  advance  by  the  Confederate  States 

•  of  the  interest  upon  these  for  the  year  1861,  with  the  payment  of  all 

arrearages,  &c,  appears  the  following: 

"  And  the  said  Confederate  States  of  America  do  hereby  assume  the 
duty  and  obligation  of  collecting  and  paying  over,  as  trustees,  to  the  said 
Cherokee  Nation,  all  sums  of  money  not  hereby  agreed  to  be  assumed 
and  paid  by  them,  accruing  whether  from  interest  or  capital  of  the  bonds 
of  the  several  States  of  the  Confederacy,  now  held  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  as  trustee  for  the  Cherokee  Nation,  and  the  said 
interest  and  capital  as  collected  shall  be  paid  over  to  the  Cherokee 
Nation.  And  the  said  Confederate  States  will  request  the  several 
States  of  the  Confederacy,  whose  bonds  are  so  held,  to  provide  by 
legislation,  or  otherwise,  that  the  capital  or  interest  of  such  bonds 
shall  not  be  paid  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  but  to  the 
Government  of  the  Confederate  States,  in  trust,  for  the  said  Cherokee 
Nation." 

The  funds  of  tho  Cherokee  Nation,  including  national,  school,  and 


37 

orphan,  fund,  thus  invested  in  the  stocks  of  certain  of  the  Confederate 
States,  amount  in  the  aggregate  to  seven  hundred  and  forty-nine  thou- 
sand and  five  hundred  dollars;  upon  which  there  is  interest  for  about 
three  years  due.  This  intetest,  as  shown  above,  the  Confederate 
States  have  agreed  to  collect  and  pay  over  to  the  Cherokee*.  With 
this  engagement,  however,  during  the  war,  it  is  utterly  impossible for 
the  Government  to  comply.  The  stocks  in  question  are  made  up,  in 
the  main,  not  of  registered,  but  of  coupon  bonds;  the  interest  upon 
which  is  payable  to  bearer.  Of  course,  in  the  absence  of  a  description 
of  the  bonds,  their  numbers,  &c.,  (information  which  Cannot  be  sup- 
plied by  this  office,)  to  enable  the  proper  authorities  of  a  State  to  stop 
the  payment  of  the  coupons,  should  they  be  presented,  it  would  be 
extremely  hazardous  for  them  to  pay  the  interest  -pon  such  State's 
indebtedness  to  these  funds. 

From  these  facts  it  will  be  perceive  1  that  the  money  due  the  Cher- 
okces  from  parties  able  and  willing  to  pay,  an  1  which,  if  paid,  would 
supply  their  most  pressing  wants,  and  thus  lighten  the  burden  of  their 
compulsory  exile,  cannot  be  obtained. 

I  would,  therefore,  most  respectfully  suggest  that  Congress  be 
requested  to  make  an  appropriation  adequate  to  meet  the  necess  ties 
of  this  people,  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment.  It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  add,  after  the  foregoing  remarks,  that  money  they  are 
compelled  to  have,  and  that  speedily,  or  the  amount  of  Buffering  among 
them,  during  the  present  winter,  will  be  great  Indeed,  with  the 
utmost  promptness  in  tliis  matter  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  the 
winter,  for  which  they  are  so  ill  prepared,  will  be  far  advanced  before 
any  materia]  relief  can  be  afforded  them. 

Such  an  appropriation  will  be  no  tax — will  entail  no  expense  upon 
the  Confederate  States.  The  Cherokees  request  the  -money,  but  they 
do  not  ask  it  as  a  gratuity.  It  will  be  perceived  from  the  I  tar 
addressed  to  this  office,  on  the  4th  instant,  by  the  delegate  to  Con 
from  the  Cherokee  Nation,  a  copy  of  which  is  herewith  submitted, 
that  the  Cherokees  expect  the  Government,  should  it  advance  this 
money,  to  replace  the  amount  so  advanced,  from  the  funds  due  them, 
and  which  it  has  agreed  to  collect. 

The  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Creeks,  and  Seminoles.  although 
almost  all  the  young  and  and  able-bodied  men  of  these  nations  are  in 
the  army,  have  succeeded  in  cultivating  and  raising  very  good  crops 
of  breadstuff's  during  the  past  season.  From  all  the  information  I 
could  gather,  while  in  the  Indian  country,  where,  in  pursuance  of 
orders  from  the  War  Department,  it  may  be  well  for  me  to  remark, 
I  have  been  for  the  greater  portion  of  the  last  six  months,  I  entertain, 
no  doubt,  a  sufficiency  of  provisions  has  been  made  by  them  for 
family  use  until  the  coming  in  of  the  next  crop.  Supplies  for  the 
army  of  the  territory  are  drawn  from  northern  Texas. 

8  nee  my  last  report,  no  perceptible  alteration  has  been  wrought  in 
the  loyalty  and  kindly  feelings  of  these  nations'  towards  the  Confede- 
rate   States.     Individual    instances   of   disaffection  have,   of    course, 
occurred,  but  it  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to    state  that  they    bav< 
extremly  rare,  and  include  in  them  no  persons  of  note  or  influence. 


38 

During  the  past  summer  and  fall,  the  harmony  of  our  relations 
with  these  Indians,  especially  with  the  Creeks,  and  according  to  the 
opinion  of  some,  (in  which  it  is  proper  for  me  to  say  I  did  not  join,) 
the  Choctaws  also,  appeared  to  be  somewhat  threatened  with  dis- 
turbance. It  is  but  an  act  of  justice  to  these  two  gallant  nations, 
that  a  brief,  but  explicit,  statement  of  the  facts  in  each  case  should  be 
herein  submitted : 

1.  In  regard  to  the  Creeks.  It  seems  that  the  two  regiments, 
(known  as  the  first  and  second  Creek  regiments,)  which  this  nation 
had  placed  in  the  Confederate  service,  soon  after  the  ratification  of  its 
treaty  with  this  Government,  refused  to  obey  orders  and  continue 
with  the  army  of  the  Indian  Territory,  when  it  fell  back  before  the  ad- 
vancing forces  of  the  enemy,  in  August  last,  from  its  position  near  the 
northern  border  of  the  Creek  country  to  Middle  Boggy  in  the  Choc- 
taw country.  This  action  on  their  part,  although  insubordinate,  and 
calculated  to  embarrass  the  operations  of  the  general  in  command, 
was  no  evidence  of  disloyalty,  or  a  disposition  to  make  terms  with  the 
enemy.  It  was  solely  the  result  of  a  desire  to  remain  in  their  coun- 
try for  its  protection,  and  that  of  their  families  and  property.  To 
show  that  but  sheer  justice  is  done  the  Creeks  in  the  foregoing 
remarks,  I  quote  an  extract  from  a  letter  now  on  file  in  this  office, 
addressed  to  General  Cooper,  on  the  30th  August,  by  D  N.  Mcintosh, 
Colonel  of  the  1st  Creek  regiment,  while,  with  the  2nd,  commanded 
by  Colonel  Chilly  Mcintosh,  it  was  separated,  as  above  indicated, 
from  the  main  body  of  our  forces,  giving  an  account  of  the  state  of 
feeling  at  that  time  existing  among  the  Creeks.  After  having  alluded 
somewhat  gloomily  to  the  retreat  of  our  army,  and  the  dangers  which 
seemed  to  environ  the  people  of  his  nation,  he  stated  :  "I  have  no 
fears  of  any  of  my  command  going  over  to  the  enemy,  as  they 
have  been  properly  tried.  I  have  heard  of  none  of  the  Creeks  desert- 
ing, but  being,  as  they  are,  greatly  scattered  for  the  purpose  of  col- 
lecting and  moving  their  families,  stock,  &c,  to  places  of  safety,  I 
have  had  but  little  opportunity  of  hearing  particularly  as  to  their 
movements." 

Colonel  D.  N.  Mcintosh  also  transmitted  to  General  Cooper,  at  the 
same  time,  a  letter  from  the  Federal  officer  commanding  the  northern 
troops  in  the  Indian  country,  to  Colonel  Chilly  Mcintosh,  in  which 
vast  promises  are  made  the  Creeks  on  one  hand,  and  dire  threats  on 
the  other,  to  induce  them  to  lay  down  their  arms.  A  copy  of  this 
letter  is  hereto  appended. 

General  Steele  has  informed  me  by  letter,  written  October  13,  1863, 
and  recived  just  before  my  departure  from  the  Indian  country  for 
Richmond,  that  the  Creek  regiments  had  again  joined  his  command. 
This  information  was  not  at  all  unexpected,  as  the  communication 
from  Colonel  Mcintosh,  before  referred  to,  had  prepared  me  for  it. 

2.  In  regard  to  the  Choctaws.  At  a  meeting  held  in  the  latter  part 
•of  September,  or  early  in  October  last,  at  Doaksville,  in  which  cer- 
tain propositions  of  the  most  flattering  nature,  addressed  by  the 
Federal  General  Blount  to  the  Choctaws,  soon  after  the  occupation  of 
Fort  Smith  by  his  troops,  were  discussed,  one  or  two  members  of  thr 


39 

nation  were  represented  to  have  given  utterance  to  sentiments  that 
savored  of  a  wish  to  have  the  Choetaws  ignore  their  treaty  engage- 
ments with  the  Confederate  States,  and  assume  a  position  of  neu- 
trality during  the  remainder  of  the  existing  war.  Being,  at  the  time, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Armstrong,  the  capital  of  the  Choctaw  country,  I 
proceeded,  at  once,  to  that  place,  for  the  purpos'e  of  consulting  with 
the  authorities  of  the  nation,  and  other  influential  men,  whom  I 
expected  to  meet  there  in  attendance  upon  the  council,  which  was 
then  in  session.  My  object  in  making  this  visit  was  not  that  I  had 
the  faintest  idea  of  the  nation  being  induced  to  swerve  one  hair's 
breadth  from  its  good  faith  and  loyalty,  by  the  promises,  however 
specious  and  glittering,  of  the  Federal  commander,  or  any  of  the 
statements  alleged  to  have  been  made  in  the  Doaksville  meeting ;  for 
I  was  well  assured  of  the  truth  and  integrity  of  the  mass  of  the 
Choctaw  people,  and  their  thorough  devotion  to  the  great  principles 
underlying  the  present  struggle,  but  it  was  simpler  to  use  my  exertions  • 
to  allay  any  excitement  or  ill-feeling — to  prevent  the  growth  of  any 
dissensions  or  divisions  among  them — to  which  the  circumstances  in 
question  were  so  well  calculated  to  lead.  My  interview  with  the 
principal  chief  and  council  was  in  the  highest  degree  satisfactory, 
and  I  found  that  in  despite  of  the  machinations  of  enemies,  the 
utmost  quiet  and  harmony  prevailed  throughout  the  Choctaw  coun- 
try. With  reference  to  the  question  of  "neutrality"  in  connection 
with  the  action  of  the  nation  during  the  present  war,  the  council  had. 
prior  to  my  arrival,  passed  unanimously  the  annexed  resolution : 

"■Be  it  resolved  by  the  General  Council  of  the  Choctaw  Nation  assem- 
bled, That  any  person  speaking  sentiments  of  a  character  tending  in 
any  wise  to  destroy  the  confidence  of  the  Chocktaw  people  in  the 
ability  of  the  Confederate  States  to  sustain  themselves  in  the  present 
struggle,  and  advising  the  people  of  this  nation  to  take  any  steps 
tending  in  any  manner  to  induce  this  people  to  occupy  a  position. of 
neutrality  or  withdraw  their  united  support  from  the  Confederate 
States,  shall  be  deemed  and  considered  an  enemy  to  this  nation  of 
people  and  a  traitor  to  the  liberties  of  his  common  country  and 
interest,  and  deserving  of  the  death  of  a  traitor,"  &c. 

About  one-third  of  the  Reserve  Indians,  who  ran  away  from  their 
homes,  at  the  time  (October  23d,  1862,)  of  the  attack  upon  the  Agency 
by  a  band  of  marauding  Indians,  have  come  in,  and  by  the  permis- 
sion of  the  authorities  of  the  Chicka.saw  Nation,  have  been  temporarily 
settled  in  their  country,  near  Fort  Arbuckle.  I  chanced  to  be  in 
the  Indian  country  when  they  left;  and  as  soon  as  an  opportunity 
offered,  I  dispatched  Mr.  Sti^rm,  the  issuing  commissary  for  the 
Reserve,  and  Mr.  Shirley,  who  had  been  a  merchant  at  the  Agency, 
in  search  of  them,  with  instructions  to  bring  them  back,  if  possible. 
An  account  of  the  result  of  this  undertaking  is  contained  in  letters 
written  by  them  to  this  office,  copies  of  which  will  be  found  annexed 
to  this  report. 

Those  of  the  Reserve  Indians  who  have  come  in  are  the  Comanches, 

Caddohadaghcos  and  Anadaghcos.     The  Wichitas,  Aionais,  Huecos 

•  and  Tahuacarros  refused  to  return,  ami  are  still  out  upon  the  prairies. 


40 

Many  of  the  former  I  rganized  into  military  companies, 

Bad  aic  all  doing  excellent  service,  as  scouts,  upon  the  frontier, 
They  are  anxious,  I  h.  be  sent  again  to  the  Reserve, 

where  they  have  comfortal  -,  &c  ,  but  it  is  so  far  v.  est,  and  so 

much  .  and  the  transportation  of  supplies  to  them  would  be  so 

difficult  and  expensive  I    have  thought  they  had  better  remain 

where  they  n<  w  arc  during  the  winter,    nd,  perhaps,  during  the  war. 

In  my  last  tated  that  the  small  tribes — with  the  exception 

of  an  inconsiderable  fragment  of  the  Great  Osages — occupying  the 
northeastern  part  of  the  Indian  Territory;  (the  Great  and  Little 
1  Senecas,  -v  i   bands  of  Senccas  and   Shawnees 

and  Quapaws,)  had  had  all    joined  the   North.      Their  country,  which 
lera  on  Kansas,  baa  long  b(  en  in  the  possession  of  the  enemy. 

The  Osages,  who  have  thus  continued  true  and  faithful,  numbering 
in  all  scarcely  more  than  six  hundred  souls,  under  l>lack-Dog,  the 
second  Chief  of  the  tril>e,  have  had,  since  they  were  forced  to  leave 
their  country,  no  fixed  hom<  s.  For  a  short  time  they  resided  with 
the  Cher  )kees  ;  they  next  removed  to  the  Cre:k  Nation,  from  which 
they  soon  passed  into  the  Seminole  country.  There  they  remained 
until  within  the  last  two  or  three  months,  when,  like  the  l^eserve 
Indians,  they  were  located  upon  lands  of  th?  Chickasaws,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Arbuckle.  The  y  >img  men,  I  should  not  neglect  ~o  state, 
are  in  the  Confederate  service,  and  compose  what  is  known  as  the 
Osage  battalion. 

The  Osages  are  generally  a  rude  and  uncivilized  people,  fond  of 
the  chase,  and  greatly  attached  to  their  old  manners  and  customs. 
Even  before  the  war,  when  they  were  all  together  in  their  own 
country,  and  well  supplied  by  the  United  States  with  the  means  of 
earning  a  livelihood,  they  were  incapable,  from  habits  of  unthriftiness 
and  want  of  industry,  of  doing  so.  Of  course,  therefore,  under 
exi.-ting  circumstances,  driven  fiom  their  homes,  and  wanderers  in 
other  lands,  the  familii  osing  this  fraction  of  the  tribe  must  be 

furnished  by  Che  Government  with  the  necessaries  of  life,  or  they  will 
freeze  and  starve. 

Provision  for  an  annual  appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  to 
buy  clothing  for  the  Osages  having  been  made  by  treaty,  I  wyould 
respectfu  ly  recommend  the  propriety  of  Congress  being  asked  for  an 
additional  appropriation  to  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  food  for 
them.  A  special  estimate  for  this  purpose  will  be  prepared  and  sub- 
mitted. 

Tn  conclusion,  permit  me  to  Bay,  that  in  view  of  all  the  circum- 
stances which  have  surrounded  the  Indians,  during  the  war,  especially 
the  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  Cherokee8,  Creeks,  and  Seminoles,  tho 
attachment  manifested  by  them  for  the  Confederate  Government,  has 
been  remarkable,  and  ought  to  be  a  source  of  the  sincerest  gratifica- 
tion and  pride  to  all  our  people  When,  ou  the  one  hand,  it  is  recol- 
lected that  nothing  Bcarceh  bul  n  verses  have  heretofore  attended  their 
efforts  for  the  defence  of  their  country  ;  that  a  large  portion  of  it  has 
been  overrun,  and  their  property  carried  off,  or  destroyed  ;  that  their 
troops,  (not,  however,  be  it  said,  without  earnest  attempts  on  the  part 


4t 

of  the  Government  to  rectify  these  things.)  have  been  indifferently 
armed  and  clothed,  and  irregularly  paid  ;  tr!  ile  on  the  other  hand,  the 
emissaries  of  the  northern  Government,  to  induce  them  to  abandon  our 
cause,  have  been  lavish  of  magnificent  promises  to  them  ;  of  gold  and 
silver,  without  stint;  provisions  and  clothing  for  the  indigent;  and  the 
protection  of  their  rights  in  person  and  property  forever — I  repeat, 
when  all  these  facts  are  re<  i  llected,  the  continued  fidelity  and  loyally 
of  these  Indians  may  well  produce  in  the  minds  of  our  people  senti- 
ments of  surprise  and  admiration.  And  not  only  have  they  main- 
tained their  loyalty  iu  the  presence  of  these  trying  circumstances; 
but  their  confidence,  as  a  general  thing,  in  the  justico  and  integrity 
of  this  Government;  in  its  good  will  and  friendship  for  them;  and  in 
the  final  triumph  of  the  great  principles  for  which  it  is  contending, 
has  ever  remained  firm  and  unshaken, 

A  talle  showing  the  condition,  at  the  opening  of  the  war,  of  the 
funds  held  by  the  United  Stites  in  trust  for  the  southern  Indians,  and 
the  extent  of  the  liability  assumed  by  the  Confederate  Government  on 
account  of  the  same  in  the  treaties  of  1861,  is  subjoined  to  this  report, 
and  attention  to  it  is  respectfully  requested. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  8.  SCOTT, 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Ajfairs. 


j'i 


LIST    OF1   DOCUMENTS 


ACCOMPANYING  REPORT  OF  THE 

COMMISSIONER  OF  INDIAN  AFFAIRS 


No.  1. — Fapers  in  relation  to  funds  of  Southern  Indians,  &c. 
« 

No.  2  —Letter1  of  Colonel  Stand  Watie,  Principal  Chief  of  Chero- 

kees,  dated  August  8,  1863. 

No.  3. — Ordinance  of  Cherokee  Convention. 

No.  4  — Letter  of  Hon.  E.  C.  Boudinot,  delegate  to  Congress  from 
Cherokee  Nation,  dated  December  4,  1863. 

No.  5  — Letter  of  Colonel  Winchester  Colbert,  Governor  of  Chick- 
asaw Nation,  dated  August  21st,  1863. 

No.  6. — Letter  of  Colonel  W.   R.   Judso:-!,  commanding  Federal 
troops,  to  the*  Creeks,  dated  August  SO,  1863. 

No.  7.— Letter  of  Major  I.  G.  Vore,  dated  August  20,  1S63. 

No.  8. — Letter  of  John   Shirley,  in  regard  to  Reserve  Indiana, 
date%  December  23,  1863. 

No.  9. — Letter  of  J.  J.  Sturm,  issuing  commissary,  dated  January 
5,  1863. 

No.  10. — Letter  of  C.  B.  Johnson,  contractor  for  feeding  Reserve 
Indians,  dated  September  18,  1863. 


' 


44 

[No.    I.J 
PAPERS  IX  RELATION  TO  FUM3   OF  SOUTHERN  INDIANS. 


ABSTRACT  A, 

Of  amounts  payable  to  Indians  of  Southern  Sup  rinteadency,  (now  called 
Arkansas  and  Red  river  Suprrintehdency,)  under  Treaties  and  Ads 
of  Congress  of  tfu    I  nited  States. 

Amounts 'payable  annually  forever: 


rTatnreof  the  Indebtedness. 

Date  of  Act  or 
Treaty. 

a  •  Feb  23;179!' 

Article  of 

same. 

Amount. 

To  the  Chickasaw  Nation. 

$3,000 

To  tiii:  Choctaw  Nation. 


Permanent    annuity   

Permanent  annuity  for  support  a      g  ••men      

...ion     

"         "     blacksmith 

"  "         "    iron  and  steel 

Interest  on  $500  000  at  6  per  cent,  for  i  nd   dherbeno 

fi-ial   purposes,  to  be  applied    under    direotton  of  irener:i 
cjjncil  


To   Tin.   Creek    Nation. 


Nov 

16,  1805 

II. 

Oct. 

is,  1820 

XIII. 

Jan. 

20,  1825 

II. 

<>ct. 

18,  1820 

VI 

Jan 

20,  1825. 

IX. 

June 

22, 1855. 

X&XJII. 

Permanent  inn  tilt  j  lo  money. 


."  >r  blackHiniiii  and  assistant  and  for  *li>|> 

and  tools  

Permanent  provision  for  iron  and  nteel  foi  Bhop  

"    pny  of  wheelwright  

r  1,000,  to  be  inv.  ,'..,1  in  some  safe 
m  oks,  paying  an  iateresl  of  at  least  5  nor  cent  per  annum 
fur  alios 


Ana.  7 
June  ltf, 
Jau.  :'4. 

it      «i 

1790 
1802. 
1820 

IV. 
II. 
IV. 

VIII. 

A  Dg   7, 

1S56 

VI. 

To  the  Seminole  Nation. 

inity  by  w  .y  .if  Inii  real  at  S  per  senl    per  annum  I 
on  $600,000  igreed  to  be  invested  foi  them. ]      Aug.  5 

To  the  Great  and  Little  Osages. 

[uteres!  on  $8  ,120  at  5  per  c.-ni  per  annum,  being  the  value  of  i 
64  sections  of  land  sel  apart  for  educational  purposes  i  •  >  f 
treaty  add  by  8eo  Ions,  Jan.  10,  1838 '  | 

To    THE    SeNECAs. 

Permanent  annuity  in  speote 


VI. 


June  2,  1825* 


Bept.  20.  I8H 
II,  Isi! 


IV 


To  the  Senecas  and  Shawnees. 

miiity  in  ppocie 

It  EC  A  I'M  rjLATIOK. 


f,000 

6(0 

G.0C0 

cro 

320 


2!i,000 
$."5,520 


$1.5t0 
3,000 

2'„',0C0 

840 

270 
COO 


10,'CO 

<;  iy.io 

# 
$';.-),cco 

J'.  I  s 

$00 
500 

1 1,000 
Jl.'CC 


C'liirkfunw  Nation 

Choctaw  " 

Crock  "       

Hi'ininole         ''      

Os  tgoa 

Bent  uu  

beoeens  aril  Bli.'iwnecB. 


f  8  000 

Ei.ca 
et^iio 
i.'.coo 

Mi-i.  6 
lu.o 

$104    >6 


45 


ABSTRACT  B, 


Of  amounts  payable  to   Indinns   of  said    Superintendency,  under   treaties 
made  by  the  United  Stat  s. 

Amounts  payable  for  a  limited  number  of  years  : 


Nat  ure  of  Indebtedness, 


To  the  Creek   Nation. 

For  education, stipulated  to  bo  paid  'or  iliirty-three 

years   I  eginning  h  ill;  the  year  is;;-.' .... 

For  education,  stipulated  to  bo  paid  for  twenty 
years,  beginning  with  ihe. year  184S 

For  »'ii  nai  provision  for  two  blacb-iniths  and  as- 
BiBtants  shops  and  tools,  continued  for  seven 
years,  afier  June,  1S.">7,  l>v  treaty  of  Aug  7.  i  556, 

For  aunu-tl  provisions  ior  iron  ana  steel  for  shops, 
continued  foraeven  jours  after  June,  1867,  by 
treaty,  Aug.  7,  1856,.. ". 


To  the  Seminole  Nation. 

Annual  provision,  for  the  support  of  nclioois, stipu- 
late! lor  ten  years     [  t£ztended  by  new  treaty,].. 

Ann  u  il  pro  vis  on  for  agricultural  Hsaistai  ce,  siipu- 
laud  for  ten  ye  m.    [  Extended  by  new  treats .  ].. 

Ainiii  il  prov  sion  for  support  of  smiths  and  smith 
shops,  stipulated  for  ten  years.  [Extend  tl  by 
new  treaty,] 


Sr't.^d    >'■«- «f  '>-«■">■ 


Mar. 
Jan. 


24,  1832 
and 

4,    1845. 


Mnr.  24,  1882, 


Article  of 
Treaty. 

Amounts. 

XIII. 
IV. 

XIII. 

$3,000 
3,  00 

1,680 

540 

48,220 

1865. 
ii 

Aug.  7,  18S8. 
.1      ii      ii 

VIII 

it 

13,000 
2,000 

2,200 
«7  200 

reca]'itt;lation. 

Creek  Nation,     88,220 

Beminole  Nation 7,.<)o 

$U-,42l) 


Add: 


Annual' provision  for ttoodfl,  provisions  nnd  ngri- 
<  n  i ural  Iraph  rthei  I  aiawaa 

i.nd  Ap at  bos,  of  A:  kansas  riv^r, 


46 


ABSTRACT  C, 


Of  amounts  payable  to  Indians  of  said  Super  ntendency,  under  treaties  made 
by  the  United  States. 

Amounts  payable  during  the  pleasure  of  the  President : 


Nature  uf  IndeUidniss.                                       Date  of  Treaty. 

Art.    of 
Treaty. 

Amounts. 

To  the  Creek  Nation. 

For  annual   provision  for  blacksmith  and  assistant,  and  »hop 

Feb.  14,  if 33. 
Feb.  14,  1883. 
Feb.  14,  1833. 
Jan.  24,  1526. 
Feb.  14,  1883. 

V. 

V. 

V. 

VIII. 

V. 

$  840  CO 

For  nuiiii.il  brovtaiou  for  assistance  in  agricultural  operations.. 

270  00 

600  00 

2,000  00 

1,000  00 

.  $4,710  00 

To  THE  QuAfAWS. 


For  annual  provision  for  education 

For  annual  provision  for  blacksmith  and  iiasistant,  shop,  took. 

iron  and  nteel 

For  annual  provision  for  farmer „ 


To  THE  SeNECAS. 

For  annua)  provision  for  blacksmith  and  assistant,  shop,  tools. 

iron  and  steel  - 

For  annual  provision  for  millers 


May  13,  1833. 

May  13,  1833 
May  13,  1S33. 


Feb.  28,  1831. 
Feb.  28,  lKt. 


III. 


III. 
III. 


IV. 
IV. 


To  the  Senecas  and  Shawnees. 

For  annual   provision  for  blacksmith  and  ass  stant,  ahop,  tools, I  | 

iron   and  steel   [  July  20,  1831.   J       IV. 


*1,0C0  o 

1,160  60 
600  00 

$2,660  03 


$1,060  00 
600  00 

$1,660  00 


$1,060  00 


RECAPITULATION. 

Creek  Nation .$4,710  00 

Daapawi 2,660(0 

BenecHH 1.6K0  00 

tieueca*  and  Bliawnees 1,060  00 


$10,090  00 


47 


ABSTRACT  D. 


Arrearages  of  annuities,  annual  interest  and  payments  overdue  to  Indians 
of  said  Superintendent^. 


Nature  of  indebtedness. 

Under    what 
treaty. 

Artiole  of 
Treaty. 

Amount*. 

To  the  Creek  Nation. 

Of  monejB  payable  tor  wagon-makers,  blaokamitbs,  shops,  Iron, 

Aug.  7,  1856. 

VIII 
VI 

$3,780 

Of  intereston  the  sum  of  $200,000  h.v  should  have  bee'j  invested 

$12,780 

To  THE   SEMINOLES. 

Of  moneys  f^r  support  of  schools,  due  up  to,  and  including  Dec 

30.1880 , 

Of  mouejs  for  agricultural  assistance  for  the  year  1860 

Of  moneys  for  smiths  and  smith  shops  for  the  year  1860 


To  THE  CHICKA8AW3. 

Of  interest  on  the  sum  of  $376  781  67,  moneys  of  the  Chlcka- 
eaws  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United  .States,  and  Invested  in  U. 
8   stocks,  for  1861  only 

Of  it  terest  on  the  sum  <>f  $376,781  57,  npd  othe-  moneys  of  the 
Ch  ckasaws  due  l-y  the  United  States,  or  collected  i>y  them 
prior  to  the  year  1861 


To  THE  CHEROKEES. 

Of  interest  on  the  permanent  general  fund  of  the  ration,  as  the 
same  is  invested,  for  last  half  of  1860,  and  all  of  1861.  Fund 
$517.26139 

Of  interest  on  permanent  orphan  fund  of  the  nation,  :.a  the  same 
is  invested,  for  last  half  of  1860,  and  all  of  1861.     Fund  $50  000. 

Of  interest  on  permanent  school  fund,  aa  the  same  is  invested 
for  the  last  half  of  I860,  nnd  all  of  1861.    Fund  $197,800 


To  the  Creek  Orphans,  of  1832. 

Of  interest  collected  and  due  *dv  the  United  8tat<e,  on  State  and 
U.  8.  stocks,  to  1st  January,  1861,  and  ant  p«M  over,  belong 
ing  to  t' ose  persons  and  the  descendant*  of  those  persons, 
who  were  orphans  in  1832,  described  aa  *  orphan  ohildren  of 
the  Creeks." 


Aug.  7,  1856. 

VIII 

13,000 
2,000 
2,200 

$17,200 

May  24, 1834 

XI 

$22,006  89 

u       •«       «< 

« 

$ 

Dec.  29,  1835 


$43,372  30 

4,500  00 

17,772  00 


$65,644  36 


March  24,  1«3?. 


II    $ 


RKCAPETULATION. 

Oreek  Nation $12,780  00 

Seminolea 17,200  00 

Chickaaaws  22,606  89  and  $ 

Cherokee* 65,644  38 

Creek  Orphans $ 

$118,231  25  $ 


48 


ABSTRACT  E, 

Of  moneys  in  the  Treasury  of  the  UniUd  States  not  invested,  and  in- 
vestments in  United  States  stocks,  for  tie  Indians  of  said  superintcn- 
dt  ney. 

Belonging  io  tii*e  Chickasaw  Nation. 

int. i  the  Treasury  on  the  'Jili  of  January,  1S57,  princlia!  of  so  much  Ohio 

6  per  cent.  stork,  held  in  trust  for  Chickasaws $100,000  00 

Amount  ti  Chickasaw    funds  invested    in  6    per  cent.  United    States  loans  of 

1812 104,039  77 

Amount    of  Chickasaw   funds   invested   in  (i  per  cent.  United  Stales    loans  of 

1847 135.2 iO  00 

Amount  of  Chickasaw  funds  invested   in  ti  per  cent  United  States  loans  of 

1*18 37  491  80 

$376,781  57 

Belonging  to  the  Chicasaw  Orphans. 

Amount  of  Chickasaw  orphan   funds  iuvc-ted  in  the   United  States  6  per  cent 

loans  of  1^42 $433  68 

Amount  of  Chickasaw  orphan  funds  invested  in  United  States  6  per  cent,  loans 

of  1847 770  03 

__$1_,203  71 

Belonging  to  the  Choctaw  Nation. 

Bo  much  of  Choctaw  general  fund  invested  in  United   States  loans  of  1842,  6 

per  cent 1,734  71 

So  much   of  Choctaw    school    fund    invested  in    United   States  loan  of  1842, 6 

per  cent G0.8U3  62 

So  much  of  ChoUa.v  school   fund  imestcd  in    Uuited   Stales  loans  of  1847,  6 

percent is.. 198  17 

$81,126  50 

Belonging    to    Certain    Persons    and  their  Descend- 
ants, Creek    Orphans  of  .1833. 

So  much  of  Creek  orphan  fund  invested  in  United  States  6  per  cent,  loans  of 

,  ]Hi- $49,900  90 

Bo  much  of  Creek  orphan  fund  invested  in  United  stales  0  per  cent  loans  of 
1847 41  7G 

$49,942  GG 

Belonging  to  Cherokee  Nation. 

So  much  of  pe  maneut  orphan  fund  of  Cherokecsin  tho  United  States  Troasury 

,  uninvested .' $5,000  90 

So  much  of  permanent  school  fund  of  Cherokecs  invested  In  Uuited  Mates  6  per 

cent,  loans  of  1847 5,800  00 

$lo,800  00 

Belonging  to  Great  and    Little  Osages. 

So  much  of  moneys  belonging  to  the  Osages  invested  in  United  States  6  per  cent. 

loans  of  1842 $24,679  56 

So  much  of  moneys  belonging  to  the  Osages  invested  in  United  States  6  per  cent. 

of  loans  of  1847 , 44  4$ 

$24,724  02 


49 
ABSTRACT  E  —  Continued 

BELONGING    TO    THE    Gr.NECAS     AND    SlJAWNEES. 

f>o  nnch  rf  mone}-s  belorgin^  to  the  f^nera*  and  Shawnee",  invented  in  Unite! 

Slates  0  percent  !oun  of  1817 ?. $Jfift  _*• 

Rf.v.apitulation. 

Chiohasaw  Nation $371,781  67 

L'b  ekasaw  Orphans '  2  >3  71 

Choctaw   Nation 81,126  50 

Creek  Orphans 49.942  fi6 

Cheralcee  Nation '«.  00  "" 

Croat  and  T.itilo  O.-a.es 24.721  02 

■fonoOM   and  Shuwnees '. 466  10 

$545,044   5(1 


50 


ABSTRACT   F, 


Of  r.xoneys  due  Indians  of  said  Superinttndency  and  unliquidated  under 
provisions  of  fumer   Treaties. 


Naturn  of  indebtedness. 


To  TFtR   Cherokees. 

I  much  !ue  Hi  •  ("her  >ke-<  Nation,  as  recited  in  the  treaty 
Of  1861 

Foi  Hiimi'h  due  He  tr  'y  party  of  the  Cherokee  at  on,  ne 
recited  in  the  tieatj  of  1J-G1,  — 


'    i      what 


Aug,  G,  1848 


Art    of 
Treaty. 


Amounts. 


?12  0ro  00 
10.300  00 


$  22,3l0  00 


To  the  Choctaws, 

Amo"nt  i"ue  and  ]•  \  a'  le\o  the  Chootaw  Fat 'on,  for  ret  pro 
c-'s  "f'lier  In.  t-  re  led  bv  tb-m  by  treaty  of  Sepieml>ei 
S7   1830   ""•!•  -r  a      im  nl  the  S*nate  of  the  United  Hiates,  1  ss 

1«  $251,000  mid   the t  of  $'>f0,00:>  appropria'ed  m  March 

1861    «     i  cvir  m-  ii     mi  nftei  deduction  of  all  just  aud  prupe 
t    peuditu  in  ami  <  Ii  "-uib,  uuder  the  treaty  of  1830, 

To  'J  ME  ClIICKASAWS. 

The  rpgiriue  un  nvest»d  and  unaccounted  for,  of  the  net  pro- 
c  .  is  ..f  iheirluxl,  r-ei'od  y  tie  ty  of  Qctolx  r  20th,  1"32  un 
d  i  that  tre  ty,  n  mi  o  trevty  of  May  24th,  1834  asihes^me 
would  app  ai  by  llie  aeuotiut  provided  for  bj  treaty  of     


Aug.  7,  1856. 


To  THE   ApaL\CHICOLA    InOI  VNS. 


';         mount  due  the  A  p»lachicola  Indians  for  looses  sustained 

1  v  it. em  '  v  then  r  tth  val  west  of  (lie  Miss''s-»ipp  ,  under  trc  i- 

i»ct.  11.1*32. 

t ......    ,t  o  tober  11, 1832,  apdjene  18, 1833,  with  the  ApnlaJii 

cola.-4.aixl   May  9,  !;;2  with  ilio  Bccoinoles  ;  such  amount :« 

Tune  IS,  1833. 

day  a,  1832. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Cherofeeea,... *??,.':90  00 

(  Miariavrn, , 

Cltkkseitwp 

/.p.h.chicr  !.m,, 

$2  j«-9:  C; 


51 


ABSTRACT  G. 


Of  Stocks  and  Bonds  of  Slates  not  of  the  Confederacy,  in  which  moneys 
of  Indians  in  said  Sup'erintendencv  are  invested,  assumed  by  the  Confed- 
erate States,  interest  payable  annually,  and  capital  at  the  nslcration  of 

peace. 


on,  npj  w*»i  ato  i  a 


.V,  if  M:  rylv.a,. 


School  1<  nd,  Sti  te  cf  P<  oneyl vania, . 


CnlCrifiW  rKCOVITTF  kts  : 

Btnti    i  

Chu  k  ■  B  >  n  "  i  •  i'  : 

State  of  li  ilii  ii      n  dein 
it 

"  Maryland,  "    aftw 

K        t*9* 


I         •  n  bat 
Treaty. 


Dec.  !  ' 

7    1819, 

Dec.  9 


:! 


May  21,  1834. 

<Vt.  21 

: 


► 


f        761  39 

: 

141  <«•  0 

17,0'  i)  00 


Net  .-mini. 


$      45  68 

200  00 

$    245  6S 


$    ICO  00 
7  050  00 

.1)1    00 
1,020  00 


KKCAPITDL  \TION. 


ee  Funds 
<";hick:is:iw     " 


Pr'noipnl.         Ii  I 
$     4  7  '1  59      $ 

f  210,261  13      $  12,33 J  65 


52 


ABSTRACT  H, 


Of  funds  of  No  them  Indian  Tribes,  invested  in  storks  of  States  of  the 
Confederacy,  and  held  in  trust  by  the  Unittd  States. 


:t  icks  of  what  Sia'es  and  held  in  irust  for  what  tribes. 


Liissuuri. 


-For  the  rhi.  pew  s  of  Swan  Cnek 

F<  r  the  1>^i ware  general  land 

rur  >li     L'"as 

For  he  Kansas 

F  rt   e  Kaui-as 

Fur  tlio  Kaskaskias,  Peorias,  &e 

Fur  die  Menojnink-s 

For  the  0  'awa.ts  ot  Blanoturn's  Fork. 
Fort  e  Oftaways  of  Ro.-he  de  Boeuf. ... 

Fur  the  Oltaways  and  Chippewa? 

lor  ibe  I'utiawatainies 


Florida. — For  The  Delaware  general  fund.. 

For  the  Iowus 

For  the  Kaskashias,  Peorias,  <fce. 


Georgia. — For  the  Delaware  general  fund 

Louisiana. — For  the  Delaware  general  fund..., 

For  the  Iowas 

For  the  Kaskaskias  and  Peorias. 


North  Carolina. — For  the  Delaw  re  general  find... 

For  the  low. is 

For  the  Kaskaskias,  Peoria.-,  <fcc. 


Kentucky. — For  the  Menominies 

South  Carolina. — For  the  Delaware  general  fund... 

F  r ihe I  was 

For  the  Kaskaskias,  Peorias,  &o. 


Per 
cent 


Amounts. 


$6 
290 

16 

18 
2 

25 
9 
8 
1 

10 
;"> 


(00  00 
,000  00 

iitio  oo 
ooo  oo 

,000  00 
000  00 
109  00 
000  00 
000  00 
000  00 
000  00 


$3.-8,1  (10  00 

~  $50.11011  00 

•2  000  00 

37  000  00 


Tennessee. — For  the  Delaware  general  fund '  6 

For  toe  low  as 6 

For  the    KaaKsskias,  i  eoria-,  &c !  (5 

For  the  Mem  minies J  5 

For  the  <>ttowas  and  Cbippewas ,,„ [  5 

For  the  Wyjmdots 1  5 


$118,0:  0  00 


$2  000  00 

~$i.uo6~oo 

9,0  0  00 

15  00O  00 
$28,000  00 


$34U000  00 
63.000  00 

117  000  00 

$521,000  00 

$  7, lilt)  00 

$1.0110  00 
3  000  00 
3,  00  00 


$7,000  00 


$14,000  00 

20.*  1)0  00 

97.  00  00 

19,'  00  00 

1,000  0  1 

5:1  '  no  no 


Virginia. — For  the  Ot.'owas  and  Chippewa? , '      „ 


:L'0i,,.uU    00 

— $V'fi0  00 


RECAPITULATION. 


Missouri $388. 000  00 

Florid   118,001)  00 

Georgia 2,000  00 

Louisiana 28,000  00 

North  Carolina 521,000  00 

Aggregate 


Kentucky $77,000  00 

South  Carolina*,. 7,000  n0 

Tenne-see 204,000  00 

Virginia 3,C00  00 


.3H.O00   00 


Note.— Maryland — For  the  Pottawatomies,  six  per  cent.,  $130,850  43. 


,53 


SUMMARY 


"Of  am  writs  due  Indian?  of  said  Arkviwi  and  Red  Riv?r  Su^erint  ndency , 
and  assumed  by  Confederate  States. 


Abstract 


B. 
C. 
1) 

E. 
F 
O. 


Amoiyits  i\;  gumeil  —  on  what  account. 


\ nnul' lee  and  annual  payments,  payible  p  -rpel  dally 

Vnnu  ties  and  annn  .!  payments,  payable  for  limitid 

ari'i  flXHd  terms  


Payable  on 
rat  fl  'at  Ion 
of  treaty. 


k unu'ties  and  annn  1  payment-,  payable  dori  ig  the 

pleasure  of  i  it     

Arrearages  of  iinunlt  e*,  btinunl  payments  and  inter-l 

eel  overdue ... 

In  Preilsury  ■  > t"  t  h n  (Jni'.e  '  Slates  uninvested, 

a  id  moneys  Invested  in  United  S  ates  stocks  

tfoueys  due  ny  Ihc  U.  8   uu-'er  form*  r  treaties,  but 

unliquidated  by  those  treaties  

\l  >neys  invested1   iu  stocks  of  the  States  not  of    the 

Confederacy 


$104, ISO  00 

33,420  00 

10,090  00 

118,231  25 


Payable   a4 

lur  ehise  of 
w.tr. 


.a  m  t  una«- 
Oei  tamed  & 
payable  a» 
close  of  war 


$  54  SO 4  4  50 


210  261   13 


$288,227  25    $785  305  6y 


IT.  -  Amount  of  funds  of  Northern  Indian   tribes   Invested  in  ntocks  of  States  of  the 
-Confederacy :.  $1,348,002  CI 


Office  of  I.npiav  Affairs,     ) 
JJcccmbrr  7,  1S63.  \ 

Respectfully  subml'.lol, 


8.  8  HCOTT. 
Cominisri-.ma  •/"  1'id-un  jljfatrt. 


Co  lion    Jamks  A    8fi  nim,  Sccrrt.ir'/  of  II •  ir. 


5-1 


(No  :  . 


Executive  Office,      > 
Clan  lac  Nation,  Aug.  8,  1863.  \ 

ITon.  S.  S.  Scott,  Commissioner  of  India?)  Affairs :  ■ 

Sir:  In  compliance  with  your  request,  I  herewith  submit  n  state- 
ment of  i  tte  a  relating  to  the  Cherokee  people.  The  i  tory  of 
militai  tions  in  this  country,  and  in  tlie  State   of  Arkansas,, 

ting  the  interests  of  our  \  eoj  le,  give  just  cause  foreom- 

Qt. 

The  Endian  troops  who  have  been  true  to  the  South  from  the  very 
i  tn  Lted,  in  many  instances,  as  though  it  were  immate- 
rial  whether   or  not  they  were  paid   as  prompily,   ami   equipped  as 
tohorou  other  soldiers;  money,  especially  obtained  for  them,  has 

more  than   once   been  appropriated  to  the  use  of  other  commands; 
cloth1  '  at  great  trouble  and  expense  to  cover  the  nakedness 

of  Indian  troops,  has,  on  several   occasions,  been  distributed  srniong 
less  i  us  sol  tiers. 

itwithstandmg,  the  treatment  has  been  such  as  to  test  to  the 
utmost  theii  fidelity,  they  have  remained  true  as  steel.  lean  point 
to  my  command  and  show  less  desertions  than  in  any  of  like  size  in 
the  service.  1  am  glad  to  be  able  to  say,  that  of  late,  my  command 
has  been  better  provided  for  than  formerly.  *  *   ■ 

Nearly  every  able-bodied  man  among  the  Cherokees  is  doing  service 
in  the  army;     in  a   majority  of  instances,  their  fai      -  e  been 

robbed  of  everything,  leaving  them  utterly  destitute,  and  only  too 
glad  to  escape  with  their  lives;  they  arc  scattered  over  the  Creek  and 
!taw  Nations,  and  in  the  State  of  Texas;  a  census  will  soon  be 
■  out  of  their  number;  I  think  it  will  not  fall  short  of  six  thou- 
sand. Lt  is  proposed  to  colonize  these  families  at  some  point  conve- 
nient to  l  ision  market  of  Texas.  Some  arrangement  will  have 
to  be  made  to  provide  them  with  shelter  and  clothing.  The  Cherokees 
have,  by  an  ordinance  recently  adopted  by  their  convention,  under- 
taken to  i  rovide  fortheir  own  destitute  people;  their  agents  appointed 
for  this  purpose  can  accomplish  but  little  good  withoul  money.  I 
annuities  due  the  Cherokees  be  turned  over  as  soon 
as  possibi  can  be  no  question  that  such  annui  due  from 
s  of  this  Confederacy;  the  difficulty  of  collecting  them  is 
another  matter.  The  Confederate  States  have  promised  us  full  pro- 
tection against  our  enemies;  i  have  ever  made  due  all  iwance  for  the 
xnanv  embarrassments  and  difficulties  the  Government  has  experienced 
in  maintaining  her  own  rights,  and  fulfilling  her  engagements  with 
the  Indians;  I  ut  I  have  always  encouraged  those  who  complain  of 
neglect,  a::d  lave  done  all  in  my  power  to  maintain  confidence  in  the 
ability  and  certainty  in  the  intentions  of  the  Government.  Shall  I 
continue  to  encourage  them;   or  thall  Iat  once  unveil   to  them   the 


55 

dread  truth  that  our  country  is  to  be  hopelessly  abandoned,  and  thai 
they  are  to  receive  the  reward  of  poverty  *nd  rain  for  thoir  unswerving 
fidelity  to  the  southern  cause  ? 
Very  respeci  fully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

STAND  WATIE, 
Principal  Chi-*/  <f  Cierokeesi 


[No.    ' 

An  Ordiri  i  <<  '•  'y  provisions  to  the  poor       '  'at:  of  the  (  ' 

kit  Nation. 

Be   it  ordained,  by  the  people  of  the  Cherokee  Nation,  in   conj 
tiou  assembled,  That  the  principal  chief  be,  and  he  ia  hereby,  aui      :■- 
ized    immediately    to  appoint  some  competent  person   to  act  as 
missioner  for  the  Cherokee   Nation,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  co       I 
as  many  d  is,  in  his  judgment,  may  be  no  i 

I         rstte  of  Texas  or  the  Choctaw  Nation,  or  elsewhere,  at  convei 
distance-  from  those,  places  where  provisions  can  beobtained;  and        !i 
commissioner  is  hereby  authorized  and  instructed  to  supply 
tation  to  those  women  and   children,  and  men   unfit  for  ser-vi 
army,  with  their  baggage,  to  the  vicinity  of  Baid depot,  who  shall  i     '  8 
j         sentation  to  him  of  their  inability  to  supply  the  le- 

•  transportation. 

lained.  Tint  such  commissioner  be,  '  ■*, 

authorized  to    obtain    from  the    "Confederate    States  I 
through    its    proper   agent,  such   supplies  of  provisions  | 

-.-    for    the    use    of   all     ,  r    in 

this  "I'll  mli  supplies  of   provisions  to  be  'i 

■  and  [dices  as  may    be  agreed  upon  by  the  commissi  !'  the 

(Jh   .  tion  and  the  agent  of   the  Confederal 

ii  further  ordained,  That  in  ease  the  ne< 
\  •  be  obtained  from  the  Confedi 

then  the  commissioner  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  is  hen  land 

empowered  to  obtain  ft  onfe«ieral     3l  r 

amount   of  m<  i   his  judgment,  be  m 

pro\  i-ions. 
it  further  ordained,  That  such  commissiorers  shall 
tionary    power    to  purchase  provisions   from   p      .  or 

my,  on    the    faith     of   ;  ion,    which    i 

i         ed  lor  the  |  >\  men'  of   al  k 

.  I 
our  delegate  in  *  longi  ess  is 
for  all  Buch  expenses  undo  ovision  o 

it.  further  ordained.  That  the  aul 

n  pro.  LSI  on  -  illy  to  tfa 

i  and  to  the  i  i  nt  of   la 


5G 

Be  it  further  ordained,  That  all  Cherokee  refugees  except  such 
as  are  herein  mentioned,  whether  removed  by  provisions  of  this 
O'dinance,  or  already  residing  in  Texas  or  the  Choctaw  Nation,  shall 
fee  entitled  to  rations  upon  their  representations  that  they  have  no 
money  with  which  to  purchase  the  same;  but  no  person  fit  for  mili- 
tary service  shall  be  entitled  to  rations. 

Be  it  further  ordanied  That  those  families  residing  at  such  distance 
from  the  depots  as  to  make  it  inconvenient  for  them  to  draw  rations 
tlijere,  shall  be  permitted  to  draw  at  some  point  in  their  own  neighbor- 
hood by  arrangements  of  the  commissioner,  if  such  arrangement  be 
practicable,  if  not  practicable,  and  in  case  the  commissioner  shall  ob- 
tain money  for  the  purchase  of  provisions,  then  he  will  issue  the  cost 
of  such  rations,  exclusive  the  cost  of  transportation  to  such  families 
in  money 

Be  it  further  ordained,  That  such  commissioner  shall  enter  into  bond 
with  sufficient  security  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  principal  chief  to  the 
Bum  of  seventy-five  thousand  dollars  for  the  faithful  performance  of 
his  trust,  and  also  be  subject  to  removal  by  the  principal  chief  for 
neglect  of  duty.  Said  commissioner  shall  keep  a  record  of  the  num- 
ber of  persons  removed  to  the  several  depots  with  the  name  and  age 
of  each,  also  the  number  of  persons  drawing  rations  by  name  ;  and 
also  shall  keep  a  correct  account  of  all  the  expenses  incurred  in  the 
necessary  performance  of  his  duty.  Said  commisioner  shall  also  file 
a  quarterly  account  with  the  president  of  the  "national  convention," 
Or  with  the  president  of  the  "  national  committee,"  who  shall  appoint 
a  committee  of  three  to  examine  such  account  with  the  vouchers  ac- 
company ing  it.  and  report  to  said  convention  or  committee,  which 
body,  by  a  majority  of  votes,  may  approve  or  disapprove  said  ac- 
count. 

Be  it  further  ordained,  That  such  commissioner  shall  receive  as  com- 
pensation for  his  services  the  sum  of  two  hundred  dollars  per  month, 
and  rations,  and  be  entitled  to  not  exceeding  four  assistants  ;  each 
assistant  to.  receive  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  per  month 
and  rations,  such  sums  to  be  paid  out  of  the  treasury  of  the  Cherokee 
Nation  upon  warrant  of  the  principal  chief 

Be  it  further  ordained.  That  such  commissioner  is  hereby  instructed 
to  provide  for  the  comfort  of  such  refugees,  both  as  regards  comfort- 
able winter  quarters  and  other  matters  as  may  be  essential  to  their 
comfort. 

ALECK  FORM AN, 
President   Convention. 
War.  P.  Boudinot, 

Seen  tart/  Convention 

I  hereby  certify  that  the  a^ove  is  a  true  copy  from  the  original. 

STAND  WAT  IE, 
Principal  Chief  Cherokee  Nation 
Prarie  Springs,  C.  W.,  ) 
August  1st,  18GS        i 


[No.  4.] 

KlCHMOM),   V\.,  I 

Dec.   I.  1863.  S 
Hon.  S.  S.  Scbrr,  Cornmissioner of  '  Indian  A   airs: 

Sir  .  On  the  1st  Jay  of  August,  186$,  the  Convention  of  the  Cher- 
okee Nation  adopted  an  ordinance  to  provide  for'the  destitute  refugees 
from  tint  country.  The  coin  raissfon  erg  appointed  to  carry  out  its 
provisions  nave  applied  t>  the  Confederate  Government  for  funds. 
Any  moneys  they  may  receive  from  the  General  Government  will  bo 
replaced  after  the  war,  out  of  funds  which  are  now,  or  may  hereafter 
be,  due  the  Cherokees.  Of  course,  no  obligations  in  the  treaty  ".'ill  bo 
effected  by  such  arrangements.  % 

Very  respectfully. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

E.  C.  BOUDINOT, 
])  I  gate  from  the  Cherokees* 


[.No.  5.] 

Executive  Office,  Chickasaw  Nation,      ) 
August,  21,  1863.  J 

Hon.  S.  S.  Scott: 

Sir:  Your  letter  of  the  14th  inst  nt  was  received  to-day,  and  in 
answer,  I  have  to  say  that  the  condition  of  the  Chickasaw-;  is 'as  good 
as  the  circumstances  and  the  times  will  admit.  We  have  mad;  lino 
crops,  and  there  is  no  Hanger  of  the  people  starving,  unless  the  Feds. 
get  in  amongst  us.  We  are  much  in  need  of  ammunition  and  arms. 
Many  of  the  soliiers  in  the  Chickasaw  battalion  are  without  guns. 
This  deficiency  should  be  supplied  by  the  Confederate  State--.  •  The 
Indian  Department  is  deficient  in  the  right  kind  of  arras  for  effective 
service.  Some  of  the  Chickasaw  soldiers  have  received  no  pay  for  ser 
vice  for  the  last  twelve  months.  1  should  like  to  see  you  much,  and 
converse  with  you.  I  could  give  you  more  information  than  could  bo 
rtuted  in  the  short  limits  of  a  letter. 
Most  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WINCHESTER  COLBERT, 
Governor  Chickasaw  Action 


53 


♦  [No.  6.1 

Headquarters.  1st  Brigade,  Army  of  the  Frontier,      > 
In  the  Field,  August  3D,    1863.  ) 
To  Col.  Chilly  McTntosfi,  Commanding  Creeks  : 

Colo?  kl:  I  am  now  occupying  your  country,  and  intend,  as  far  as 
ible,  to  prevent  the  unnecessary  destruction  of  the  property  of 
the  Creek  Nation.  I  know  that  you  have  been  deceived  by  tho  so- 
called  Confederate  States  leaders,  in  relation  to  sustaining  themselves 
as  an  independent  nation;  That  time  has  already  passed.  The  break- 
ing up  of  the  Confederate  armies  in  the  Valley  of  the -Mississippi,  the 
defeat  of  John:  ton,  the  defeat  of  Let1,  and  the  flight  ofyourown  army, 
is  sufficient  proof  that  they  have  no  power  to  sustain  their  Govern- 
ment. 1  now  call  upon  you  and  your  people  to  return  to  their  alle- 
giance, and  save  their  property  and  homes  ;  otherwise,  your  country 
will  be  perm  men  ly  occupied — their  interest-,  divided  among  the  loyal* 
portion  of  the  nation.  Those  that  come  in  now,  without  fit  t her  hesi- 
u,  will  be  protected  in  all  their  rights  as  citizens  of  the  Creek 
Nation.  If  you  choose,  you  can  select  such  men  as  you  think  proper 
to  negotiate  upon  the  subject,  and  I  shall  be -happy  to  meet  them  in 
council. 

W.  It.  J'UDSON,  Colonel  Commanding 

1st  Brigade,  Army  (f  Frontier. 


[No.  7.] 

cjarters  1st  Brigade,  Department  I.  T.,  ) 
Broy  km g  Creek  V.  N. ,  A u g  2 1 ),  .1 86 3 .      \ 

Colonel:   E  .  I  send  you  the  communication   promised  by 

the  C  ■  while   you  were   here.      Nothing   new  here.     No 

movement  since  we  left  the   neighborhood  of  Elk  cieek ; 

no  em  n  this  side  the  Arkansas,  except  small  robbing  parries  of 

Pin  C  v  go  f/om  house  to  house  with  impunity.     Fede- 

rals still  scattered  on  account  of  .sickness ;  none  of  our  commands 
permitted  to  annoy  or  attack  them.  Indians  all  quiet,  but  determined 
not  to  fall  back  until  whipped  back.  It  is  said  General  Steele  is  hav- 
ing B  as  a  precautionary  measure.  Kiawas  have 
been  into  the  Seminole  country  an  i  killed  some  of  Colonel  Jumper's 
people.  The  Chickasaw  battalion  is  ordered  to  their  assistance. 
I  hav-:>  the  honor  to  be, 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

I.  O.  VORE, 
Major  and  Q.   M ,   Indian   Territory, 
Colond  S.  S.  Scott,  Commissioner  Indian  Affairs,  Headquarters  Ihpl , 
Trails -M 


59 


[No.  8.] 

Fort  Ar  buckle,  0.  N.,  > 
December  23,  1862.  5 
Sir  :  Agreeably  to  the  wishes  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
on  my  arrival  at  the  Wichita  Agency,  in  November  last.  I  sent  an 
express  to  the  camps  of  the  Reserve  Indians,  camped  at  or  near  the 
Antelope  Hills,  but  in  consequence  of  the  total  absence  of  grass  they 
were  unable  to  proceed,  and  rel  i  ird  day,  bringing  with 

them  six  families  of  Indians  found  in  the  Witchita  mountains,  who 
were  absent  on  a  buffalo  bunt  at  the  time  of  the  stampede.  s  f  w  days 
afterward  ,  I  met  with  a,  par'y  of  Indians  direct  from  the  camps  on 
the  Canadian,  who  reported  that  the  Indians  th  in  a  destitute 

condition,  and  anxiously  waiting  t<>  •  n  some  person,  authorized 

to  instruct  them  what  to  do.  The  chiefs  had  all  assembled  in  Coun- 
cil and  instructed  their  young  men  to  remain  in  camps  until  they 
could  ascertain  the  intention  of  die  Government — that  it  was  their 
wish  to  carry  out  the  treaty  and  return  to  their  homes  in  peace,  if 
permitted.  The  chiefsof  the  Prairie  Indian,:  had  also  replied  to  some 
men  from  Fort  Wise,  that  they  bad   m  ■  with   Texas   and  the 

Indian  nations  east  of  them  — that  they  would  take  no  part  in  this 
Avar  unlest  they  were  first  attacked  by  one  side  or  the  other,  and  that 
they  did   nor  expect  to  be  disturbed  by  the  southern  troops  who  pro- 

to  b  •  th  'ir  friends.  After  waiting  three  weeks  for  a 
communication,  sent  by  express  on  the  24th  ultimo,  I  determined  to 
return  to  this  place  with  the  Indians  found  in  the  mountains,  and 
arrived  here  this  afternoon  ;  but,  previous  to  leaving  the  Reserve,  I 
sent  my  brother  ami  two  men  to  the  camps  of  the  Reserve  Indians 
with  instructions  to  invite  them  in.  v  ith  the  hope  that  suitable  provi- 
sion woul  1  he  trade  for  them.  I  will  leave  here  in  the  morning  for 
Sherman,  Texas,  where  I  reside  at  pre:  snt,  ami  should  ra  :es  be 

required  any  further,  you  can  command  me.      End  h  you 

will  finl  instructions  from  the  Commissioner  Indian  Aff.iirs,  to  take 
charge  of  the  property  found  at  the  Agency.   You  will  |  I  struct 

me  what  disposition  to  make  of  it. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain, 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant^, 

JOllfl  SHIRLEY, 
D.  II.  Cooper,  Brigadier  (  .  ' '.   Y. 


[No.  !).] 


k,  C.  N  ,      ) 
January  5th,  1 863.  > 

To  Gen.  Cooper,  Scullyville,  < '    V 

Sin:  The   Commissioner   of  Indian    Affairs,   while    at    Arbucklc, 

wrote  a  letter  to  the  reserve  Indians,  and  tent  it  by  mo  to  Foit  Cobb, 


60 

requesting  them  to  come  near  Arbuckle  and  stay  during  the  winter. 
I  went  *o  Fort  Gobh  but  Baw  none  of  the  Indians.  On  my  return  to 
Arbuckle,  Mr.  Shirley  and  several  other  men,  who  were  acquainted 
with  the  Indians,  started  out  in  search  of  them.  He  saw  several 
Comanches  and  Caddos,  but  saw  none  of  the  chiefs  of  the  diiferent 
bands.  lie  passed  this  place,  on  his  return  to  Texts,  twelve  days 
since.  Mr.  Bunger  and  two  other  white  men  went  on  towards 
Antelope  Hills,  where  the  reserve  Indians,  and  the  Comanches, 
Kiawu  8  and  several  other  bands  were  encamped.  When,  within,  forty 
miles  of  Antelope  Hills,  they  meet  a  portion  of  the.Caddoi,  Anadah- 
kos,  and  Ionies  on  their  way  to  Arbuckle,  (21)0.)  The  chiefs,  on 
hearing  the  talk  sent  to  them,immedi  itely  dispatched  some  men  to  biing 
in  the  rest  of  the  Caddos  and  Comanches.  Mr.  Bunger  left  the 
Caddos  at  Fort  Cobb,  collecting  their  stock;  they  will  be  at  Arbuc- 
kle in  ten  or  twelve  days.  The  Kiowas  are  hostile;  a  party  came  to 
the  Caddo  camp,  while  Mr.  Bunger  and  the  two  other  white  men  were 
there,  and  demanded  them,  and  said  they  would  kill  them  before  they 
left  the  camp  Jose  Marie  told  chem  that  the  Shawnees  bad  come 
and  killed  several  of  his  white  friends,  when  all  of  ids  young  men 
were  from  home,  but  now  they  could  not  kill  these  men,  who  were  his 
friends,  until  after  they  had  killed  him  and  bis  men.  The  Kiowas 
Staid  near  bis  camp  all  night;  next  morning  the3'.  desisted  from 
demanding  the  lives  of  the  white  men,  but  told  the  Caddos  they  were 
fools,  for  that  in  the  spring  a  powerful  combination  of  red  men,  who 
are  now  encamped  on  the  north  Canadian,  would  kill  all  the  red  men 
who  are  friendly  to  Tex;is,  and  would  drive  the  Texiansinto  the  seat 
I  think  there  will  be  a"bout  eight  hundred  Indians,  who  will  come 
to  Arbuckle,  and  if  the  reserve  Comanches  come,  it  will  increase  the 
number  to  twelve  hundred.  There  are  now,  at  this  place,  one 
hundred  and  sixty-six  Tonks  and  sixteen  Comanches,  to  whom  I  am 
issuing  rations  vegularly.  I  think  the  Tonkaways,  and  other  reserve 
Indians,  should  be  in  a  few  miles  of  each  other,  so  that  the  commis- 
sary could  issue  the  rations  all  at  one  place.  I  would  be  glad  to  hear 
from  you  soon. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

J.  J.  STURM, 
Issuing  Commissary,  Reserve  Indians. 


[No.   10.] 

Sherman,  Grayson  County,  ) 
September  18,  18G3.      > 

To    Col.   3.    S.    Scott,  Commissioner   of   Indian  A/fairs,  Shreveport, 

Louisiana  : 

Sir  :  I  have  just  received  the  information  from  the  Indian  Reserve 
camps  that  the  Caddos  that  went  off  with  "Jim  Pock  Mark"  last  fall, 


Gl 

have  been  in  the  Reserve  with  a  message  from  the  disaffected  Indians 
to  this  effect,  viz.  :  That  all  the  bands  that  left  the  Reserve  last  year 
would  return  this  fall,  and  would  be  accompanied  I  y  a  strong  escort 
of  Federals,  to  occupy  and  hob!  the  Reserve  country  ;  to  start  fiora 
Fort  But,  on  the  Aikansas  ant]  that  they  would  all  be  fed  and  pro- 
tected by  the  northern  Government-.  The  seas-en  having  been  unu- 
sually dry,  has  ant  will  delay  their  time  of  starring,  and  should  hey 
cotr.e  this  fall  ihey  must  start  before  the  lst<>f  November.  Think- 
ing it  very  important  that  you  should  know  this  immediately,  I  have 
not  lo-t  it  inotU'  nr,  in  sending  you  this  communication,  i  his  in  i 
mere  rumor.  »n  l  your  department,  should  have  the  tiling  attended  to 
most  promptly,  »r  th«  whole  northern  frontier  of  Texas  .viiT  be  s  in- 
ject to  in  va  ion.  :,nd  a  large  portion  of  the  InM  n  count  y  be  overrun 
and  lost  You  are  aware  I  am  not  easily  alarmed  bj  Indi in  run  >rs, 
but  this  is  worthy  of  your  earnest  attention,  and  some  action  should 
be  takfii  >u  on  :e.  1  have  als'^  to-day  addressed  General  S:cel>>  on 
this  suljeet. 

Yours,  Respectfully, 

C.  B.  JOHNSOK. 


REPORT 


or 


COMMISSIONER   OF  EXCHANGE. 


Confederate  States  nv  Amerti  ) 

n  uT  i '</.■■  i  'mi »/,    \ 

Richmond,  Vu.,  Dec.  5th,  1863.  ) 
IIon>  Jap.  A.  Sepdon,  Secretary  of  War: 

Fit::   I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  :resprndcnce 

between  the  Federal  Agent  of  Exchange  and  myself: 

I  have  selected  fiowi  th<-  ma*  ior  dence",   such   letters  as 

relate  10  matters  <f  »encral  interest,  and  (Specially  to  t!  its  of 

controversy  betwei  n  us. 

I.    Papers  from  one  to  twelve,  inclusi  i  the  arrest  and  deten- 

tion of  non-combatants.     The   Federal    authoii  ies  have  persistently 
refused  t  iprocal  rule  as  to  such  parties.     Their  mili- 

tary commanders  seem  to  h  n  permitted  to  m  il 

comb  it  i it ts  without   regard  to    their   ags,    sex   or  situation.       > 

have  been    thrown    into  prison    arid    there   indefinitely 
retained,  in   moat  cage's,    without  charges.      1  have   persi 
tended    that  the  whole  subject   of  their  capture   of   non-combatants, 
should  Iw  defer,   ined  t > v  rule,  and   not  by   aibitrary   practice.     This 
reasonable  proposal,  nor  receiving  tl  at  of  the  enemy,  I 

federate  authorities  have  been   forced,    in   some   instances,   to   retain 
Federal  non  combatant*  as  a  measure  of  retal  ati  in. 

I'ap 'i  s  fiom  thirteen  to  sixteen,  inclusive,  relat  -ctention 

of  exchanged  and  uuexc  ans  d  officers  and   men       There  are  officers 

el  rj 

and  men  now  in  Federal  prisons,  who  have  been  thei  aince   the 

ad(  ]>  ion  of  the  cartel       I  have  br<  ught  to  the  at  of  the  Tinted 

States  authorities  ngnin  and  again  the  names   of  some  of  the  parties 
who  were  confined  in  violation  of*  the  exchange  agreements.      In 

-.  alter  long  delay,  the  part  ■•  released.     Other-,  howi 

are  still  1  mguUhing  in  c  mhn<  mi  at. 

.5.   I'..|eis  from  seventeen  to  forty, inclusive,  relate  to  the  general 

Orders  ol    tl    •  enemy    and    then  with    di  of  ex- 

ehanjE  inxious  has  the  '  Jon  ■  G 

all     obstacles    to    a  general    exchange    of    prh  th*t  when  the 


64 

f  ci  i  olai  i(  11  and  adjustment  of  paroles  was  made  a  subject  of  difficulty 
by  the  enemy,  vc  pr<mpily  agreed  to  determined  the  whole  matter  in 
accordance  with  the  general  orders,  issued  at  Washington.  This  very 
liberal  proposition  has  not  been  accepted  by  the  Federal  authorities, 
J  have,  liowevi  r,  by  virtue  of  the  provisions  of  the  cartel,  proceeded 
to  make  declarations  of  exchange,  upon  the  basis  of  those  general 
orders.  In  those  declarations  of  exchange,  1  have  not  exceeded  the 
valid  paroles,  which  are  on  tile  in  my  office.  The  reply  of  the 
Federal  agent  to  my  letter  of  October  31st,  1863,  was  so  personally 
offensive  that  I  was  compelled  to  return  it  to  him  without  any  an- 
swer 

4.  Papers  from  forty  one  to  forty  seven,  inclusive,  relate  to  the 
confinement  of"  Gen.  John  II.  Morgan  and  his  officers  in  the  peniten- 
tiary, at  Columbus,  Ohio.  Though  the  Federal  agent  on  the  3  Uh  of 
July.  1*63,  notified  me  that  Gen.  John  II.  Morgan  and  his  officers 
would  be  placed  in  close  confinement,  he  informed  me  two  months  af- 
terwards,  that  "the  United  States  authorities  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  treatment  that  General  Morgan  and  his  command  received  when 
imprisoned  at  Columbus." 

5  Papers  from  forty  eight  to  fifty-seven,  inclusive,  relate  tof  the 
detention  of  surgeons  Before  the  date  of  the  cartel,  surgeons  were 
unconditionally  released  after  capture.  That  rule  was  first  adopted 
by  the  Confederate  commanders  and  was  subsequently  followed  by  the 
Federals.  Some  time  ago,  one  Ruek^r  was  indicted  by  a  grand  jury 
in  Virginia,  for  several  felonies.  Although  Rucker  was  never  a  sur- 
geon  in  she  Federal  service,  the  enemy  t-. eld  surgeon  Green  of  the 
Confederate  navy,  in  retaliation.  This  caused  retaliation  on  our 
part,  in  return,  and  surgeons  weie  afterwards  held  in  captivity  on 
both  siihs.  In  this  instance  the  Federal  authorities  proved  that  they 
were  ready  to  sacrifice  tiieir  own  medical  officers  in  an  endeavour  to 
secure  the  release  of  a  felon  in  no  way  connected  with  their  medical 
service.  Rucker  having  recently  escaped  from  .jail,  the  surgeons  on 
both  sides  have  been  released. 

6.  Papers  from  fifty- eight  to  sixty-thrde,  inclusive, relate  to  persons 
captured  upon  our  rivers  and  the  high,  seas.  By  agreement  made 
with  the  Federal  agent  of  exchange,  all  such  who  were  captured  be- 
fore December  Kith,  1SC2,  were  declared  exchanged.  In  spite  of  that 
agreement.  Gome  of  our  pilots  and  sea  captains  were  kepr.  in  confine- 
ment. The  correspondence  will  fully  show  the  refusal  of  the  Federal 
authorities  to  adopt  any  fair  and  reciprocal  lule,  as  to  the  f,urtier 
exchange  of  such  persons. 

7.  Papers  numbered  sixty* four>  and  sixty-five,  show  the  preten- 
sions of  the  enemy  as  to  such  persons  as  have  been  tried  under 
the  laws  of  a  sovereign  State  for  offences  against  the  same. 

8.  Papers  from  sixty-six  to  seventy-two,  inclusive,  embrace  all  the 
correspondence  in  which  Gen.  E  A.  Hitchcock  has  borne  a  part.  It 
seems  there  are  two  commissioners  of  exchange,  on  the  part  of  the 
Federal  government.  How  far  the  authority  of  each  extends,  or  how 
far  one  is  suboidmate  to  the  other,  has  not  as  yet  clearly  appeared. 
The  future  may  perhaps,  explain  that  they  may   be   put  to   separate 


65 

uses.     The  last   letter  of  Gen.    Hitchcock,    bearing   date    Noveiiw  t 
23,    1863,    I    returned,    with    the   following    indorsement,   to   wit  : 
"Protesting  that  the  statement  of  facts  contained  in  this  paper  is  in- 
correct, I  return  it  to  its  author  as  unfit  to  be  either   written  or  re 
ceived." 

With  this  brief  notice  of  the  correspondence,  I  respectfully  suUnat 
it  as  my  report. 

Respectfullly, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,   .7-  U  of  ExcheML'. 


GORUKSrONDENCK 
r  ■■   to  thk  Arrest  and  Detention  of  Non-  Combatants. 


[No.  I.] 
MR.  OULD  TO  LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW. 

Confederate  States  of  America,  War  Department,      ) 

Richmond,  Ya.,  Oct.  4,  1862.  J 

Lieut,  Col.  Wm.  H.  Ludlow, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

.-• 

****** 

I  also  bring   to  your   attention    the  case  of  peaceable,  non-coaa- 
\  [  tizens  of  the  Confederate  States,  taken,  in  some  instances, 

with  almost  every  possible  indignity,  from  their  homes  and  thrown 
into  military  prisons.  I  do  not  utter  it  in  the  way  of  a  threat,  but 
c  dor  demands  that  I  should  say,  that  if  this  course  is  persisted  in, 
the  Confederate  Government  will  be  compelled,  by  a  sense  of  duty  to 
i4.  own  citizens,  to  resort  to  retaliatory  measures.  In  no  one  in- 
stance have  the  Confederate  authorities  sanctioned  the  arrest  of  any 
citizen  of  .my  cne  of  the  United  States  found  in  the  exercise  of  a  law- 
ful and  peaceful  business.  If  such  a  case  can  be  found,  the  wrong 
will  be  speedily  righted.  Such  cases  not  being  within  the  rules  of 
military  capture,  are  not,  therefore,  the  proper  subjects  of  exchange 
under  a  cartel.  Hundreds  of  cases  have  been  brought  to  the  atten- 
dee of  the  Confederate  authorities,  where  parties  in  pursuit  of  their 
c.  linarj  occupations,  and  not  bearing  arms,  and  not  being  in  any 
i   "'•  i gairsalion,  have  been  arrested,  dragged  from  their  homes, 

?"  ■  thrown  into  prisons,  where  they  remain  to  this  day,  even  though 
the  United  States  forcos,  which  made  the  arrest,  have  been  withdrawn 
firom  the  neighborhood  where  it  was  made.  The  Confederate  Govern- 
I  :  can  in  no  vay,  whether  by  a  system  of  exchanges  or  otherwise, 
i  gnize  the  light  of  the  United  States  to  invade  its  territory,  arrest, 
carry  off,  and  detain  indefinitely  its  peaceable  citizens.  In  any  case 
n!  ere  an  excuango  i;}  proposed,  if  the  situation  of  the  parties  is  the 
samot  it  -ill  be  cheerfully  made,  The  Confederate  Government, 
however,  has  not  arrested  your  peaceable  citizens,  and  has  none 
of  that  class  to  offer  in  exchange  for  such  of  the  Confederacy  as  have 
>,.  To  exchange  such  as  we  have  the  right  to  capture,  ac- 

cording  1 .  the  usages  of  war,  for  our  own  peaceable  citizens,  unlaw- 
ft&3    ■■  '  '  njustfy  taken,  as  we  think,  would  be  a  quasi  recognition  of 


67 

your  ri^ht  to  make  such  captures.     I  trust,  therefore,  that  the  United 
States  Government  will  unconditionally  release  all  citizens  of  the  Con- 
federate States  belonging  to  the  class  to  which  I  have  referred. 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  ohedient  servant, 

RO.  OtTLD,  Agent  of  Eatchmgi 


[No.  8.] 

LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  ME,.  OULD. 

Headquarters  7th  Armv  Corp-*,      ^ 
Fcrt  Monroe,  Va .,  Dec.  3,  1862.  S 
$Ion,  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners : 
Sir:  Since  I  wro'e  to  you  this  morning,  information  has  been- 
given  me  that  some  thirty  or  forty  citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  non- 
combatants,  were  seised  by  order  of  General  Stewart,  in  his  late 
incursion  into  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  and  were  conveyed  to 
Richmond.  This  is  so  clearly  in  contravention  of  the  portions  you 
'have  laid  down,  tliat  I  need  only  mention  the  fact  to  you  to  insure 
their  immediate  delivery  to  Capt.  Mulford,  in  charge  of  the 'flag  of 
truce. 

I  am,  very  renpectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  II.  LUDLOW, 
Lieut.  Col  ,  and  Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisonen, 


[No.  3.] 
MR.  OULD  TO  LIEUT.  €OL.  LUDLOW. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Dec,   I!,  1862. 
Eifa  ut.  Co1.»Wm.  H.  Ludlow, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

Sir  :  With  reference  to  the  Pennsylvania  non-combatants  captured 
by  General  Stewart,  and  whose  release  you  ask  in  your  letter  of  the 
3d  inst.,  I  beg  leave  respectfully  to  state  that  th^y  were  captured,  and  arc- 
now  held  only  in  retaliation  for  captures  of  non-combatant  citizens  of 
the  Confederate  States.  As  eoon  as  your  Government  releases  the 
non-combatants  of  the  Confederate  States,  now  held  by  you,  arid 
agrees  to  abandon  the  policy  of  making  such  captures  in  the  future. 
in  other  words,  as  soon  as  your  G01  tially 

I     the  proposition  relating  ta  such  can  to  you  ai 


68 

our  last  interview,  these  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  will  be  uncondition- 
ally released.  You  have  in  your  military  prisons  at  this  time  a  far 
larger  number  of  persons  who  were  arrested  on  Confederate  soil,  while 
engaged  in  no  acts  of  hostility  to  your  Government,  than  we  have  in 
ours.  How  can  you  claim  the  release  of  your  non-combatants  when 
you  retain  ours  ?  How  can  you  ask  us  to  release  your  non-combat- 
ants when  you  refuse  to  agree  that  ours  shall  not  be  captured  ?  la 
retaining  these  Pennsylvanians,  the  Confederate  Government  does  not 
abandon  its  position  so  often  reiterated,  that  the  capture  of  non-com- 
batants  is  illegal,  and  contrary  to  the  usages  of  civilized  warfare. 
The  Confederate  Government  is  anxious  to  put  an  end  to  any  such 
practice.  It  has  protested  earnestly  and  persistently  against  it. 
When  those  protests  failed  to  accomplish  the  desired  end,  a  sense  of 
duty  to  its  own  citizens  demanded  that  the  Confederate  Government 
should  resort  to  other  means.  May  I  not  hope  that  the  United  States 
Government  will  promptly  settle  this  whole  matter  by  a  release  of 
such  Confederate  citizens  as  are  now  in  prison,  and  who,  when  cap- 
tured, were  connected  with  no  military  organization,  and  by  a  dis- 
avowal of  any  purpose  to  make  any  such  arrests  in  the  future  '? 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  4.] 
LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Headquarters  Department  of  Virginia;  7th  Arm?  Corps,      ) 

Fort  Monroe,  June  2,  1863.  S 
Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners  : 
Sir  :  A.  D.  Richardson  and  Junius  II.  Browne,  correspondents  of 
'the  New  York  Tribune,  captured  about  the  4th  of  May  last,  near 
Vicksbur^,  are  said  to  be  confined  in  the  Libby  Prison.  Mr.  Col- 
burn,  the  correspondent  of  the  New  York  World,  who  was  captured 
with  them,  has  been  released.  It  has  been  the  practice  to  treat  at- 
taches of  the  press  as  non-combatants,  and  not  to  retain  them.  The 
release  of  Mr.  Colburn  is  a  partial  recognition  of  this  practice.  Will 
you  please  inform  me  if  you  will  release  Richardson  and  Browne,  and 
if  not,  why  not. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WII.  IT.  LUDLOW, 
Lieut.  Col.,  and  Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 


69 

[No.  5.] 

MR.  OULD  TO  LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW. 

Richmond,  Ya . .  June  5.  1 803. 
Lieut.  Col.  Wm.  H.  Ludlow, 

Agent  of  Exchange. 

Sir  :  In  one  of  your  communications  of  the  2d,  you  refer  to  the 
correspondents  of  the  press,  and  say  it  has  been  the  practice  "to  treat 
them  as  non-combatants,  and  not  to  retain  them."  I  have  been 
struggling  for  nearly  twelve  months  to  establish  just  such  a  rule  as  to 
non-combatants,  without  success.  The  only  difficulty  I  met.  was  in 
your  consent.  When  an  as  the  rule  established  that  non-combatants 
were  not  to  be  retained  ?  What  was  the  date  of  its  adoption  by  Burn- 
side,  or  Rosencrans,  or  Milroy  ?  What  peculiar  immunity  should  the 
correspondents  of  the  Tribune  have  over  an  old  grey-headed  grand- 
father, who  never  shouldered  a  musket,  or  followed  in  the  wake  of  an 
army  ?  Wherein  are  they  privileged  over  delicate  and  noble-souled 
women,  who  are  cither  languishing  in  your  prisons  or  "  released"  to 
the  rigors  and  daugers  of  the  wilderness  ? 

It  seems  to  me  that  if  any  exception  be  made  as  to  any  non-com- 
batants, it  should  ho  against  such  men  as  Tribune  correspondents, 
who  have  had  more  share  even  than  your  soldiery  in  bringing  rapine, 
pillage,  and  desolation  to  our  homes.  "I  have  no  compassion  for  any 
such,  even  if  their  miseries  were  ten-fold  greater.  You  ask  mo  why 
I  will  not  release  them.  'Tis  because  they  are  the  worst  and  most 
obnoxious  of  all  non-combatants.  Yet,  bad  as  they  are,  deeply  as 
*:hey  have  wronged  and  outraged  us,  they  will  be  released  if  you  will 
only  discharge  from  imprisonment  men  and  women  "  the  latchets  of 
whose  shoes  they  are  unworthy  to  unloose." 

Mr.  Colburn  was  released  because  Mr.  Barr,  a  correspondent  of  the 
Grenada  Appeal,  was  held  by  your  authorities  for  one  of  the  three 
correspondents,  and  it  came  within  the  rule  of  our  "  sovereign  will 
and  pleasure"  to  release  him.  Moreover,  if  I  had  been  disposed  to 
ignore  Mr.  Colburn,  it  would  have  given  me  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to 
make  a  selection  between  the  Tribune's  correspondents. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Excha 


[No.   6.] 

MR    OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.   MEREDITH. 

Biciimono,  Y.\.,  August  I,  ..Mi.;. 
Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 
Sir  : 

#  «  #  #  *  .   * 

For  the  purpose  of  showing  to  you  the  position  of  the  Confederate 
Government  in  relation  to  the  imprisonment  of  non-combatants,  I  now 


renew  to  jou  the  proposal  which- 1  have  frequently  tendered  to  your 
predecessor.  J  propose  that  all  the  non-combatants  now  held  in  prison^ 
on  either  side,  be  immediately  and  unconditionally  released  ;  and  that 
no  captures  01'  non-combatants  shall  hereafter  be  made.  If  the- 
latter  branch  of  this  proposition  is  too  broad,  I  will  thank  you  to  sug- 
gest any  proper  modification. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

HO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  7  ] 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Headquarters  Department  of  Virginia,  7th  Armv  Corps,      } 

Fort  Monroe,  August  27,  1863.  S 
Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  of  Exchange,  Richmond,  Va.l 

Sir  :  I  would  again  earnestly  call  your  attention  to  the  case  of 
Messrs.  Richardson  and  Brown,  correspondents  of  the  New  York  Tri- 
bune. In  yours  of  August  L2W,  you  state  "that  there  is  no  fair  and 
reciprocal  rule  which  may  be  proposed  for  mitigating  the  horrors  of 
this  war,  that  will  not  be  cheerfully  adopted  by  the  Confederate  au- 
thorities." Now,  sir,  I  think  that  the  Confederate  authorities  could 
not  have  a  better  opportunity  for  reciprocating,  than  in  the  case  of 
the  two  gentlemen  above  named  ;  for,  when  Vicksburg  was  captured, 
the  editors  of  the  Whig  and  Citizen  fell  into  our  hands,  and  were  im- 
mediately paroled  and  sent  away.  If  you  are  sincere,  then,  in  your 
offers,  I  call  upon  you  to  give  me  evidence  thereof,  by  immediately 
releasing  Messrs.  Richardson  and. Brown. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  MEREDITH, 
Brig.  Gen.,  and  Commissioner  for  Exchange. 


[No.  8.]     % 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Richmond,  August  28,  1863. 
Brig  Gen.  8.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

Sir  :  I  still  adhere  to  my  declaration  of  the  20th  instant,  in  respect 
to  the  release  of  non-combatants.  To  that,  and  almost  every  other 
communication  involving  a  principle,  you  have  not  replied.  Fairness 
requires  that  you  should  answer  it,  in  some  form,  before  you  critici;*.' 


71 

it.  Will  you  agree  to  the  unconditional  release  of  all  tltori-com'  itanta  ! 
Your  reference  to  the  parole  of  the  editors  of  the  Whig  -and  Citlidtl, 
at  Vieksburg,  has  no  sort  of  force.  They  wer.3  parol"'!  by  th<  tot  fts 
of  surrender,  and  not  by  any  special  grace  of  your  authoiiti  v   n 

could  not  have  retained  thein  without  a  breach  of  the  terms  of  capitu- 
lation. Their  cases  are  in  no  respect  analagous  to  those  of  Rich- 
ardson and  Brown,  except  in  their  avocation  of  driving  the  (  ...1. 
Richardson  and  Brown  will  be  released  just  as  scon  as  yoo  ,  '» 
discharge  non-combatants.     I  still  say,  there  is  no  fair  and  n  .  1 

rule  which  may  be  proposed  for  mitigating  the  horrors  of  thia  "/  .r, 
that  will  not  be  cheerfully  adopted  by  the  Confederate  authorities. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exthang* 


[Wo.  9. j 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Headquarters  Department  of  Virginia,  7th  Army  Corps,      ) 

Fort  Afo* roe,  Aug.  1  i,  IS6S  ] 
Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

Commissioner  for  Exchange ,  Richmond,  Va.: 

Sir:   Mr.  Daniel  Gerhart,  an  old  and  wealthy  citizen  of  0  vt 

taken  prisoner  at  Winchester,  Va.,  while  attending  a  son  dangerously 
ill,  and  is  now  confined  at  Richmond.     Can  nothing  be  done  to  cx\:  i 
dite  the  release  of  this  gentleman? 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  MEREDITH, 
Brig.  Gen.,  and  Commissioner  for  Exchange 


[No.  Id.") 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Ricn.voo,  V,\.,  A  J. 

Brig.  Gen.  8.  A.  Meredith, 

\ent  of  Exchange : 

Sir:   Your  communication  of  the  !  4th  instant,  res,  '   1 

Gerhart,    has    been  received.      You   say  ho    iras    takei  r    at 

Winchester,    while    attonding    a    son    dangerously    ill.  ;uire 
whether  anything  can  be  done  to  expedite  his  release.      Undoubtedly, 

something    can    be    done.      Release    our   non-comb  r.  y    i 
have  in   prison,  and   Mr.  Gerhart  is  instantly  free.      I    hop 
enough  strength  in  Mr.  Gerhart's  case,  he  be'.ng  a  **w< 


72 

of  Ohio,"  to  accomplish  what  justice  and  mercy  have  asked  in  vain,  for 
than  a  year. 

Resnectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exchange  . 


iS.l 


[No.  11.] 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD'. 

Office  Commissioner  for  Exchange. 
Fortress  Monroe y  Fa.,  Oct.  23,  186 

)  "on.  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  of  Exchange,  Richmond,  Va.: 

&r:  I  enclose  to  you  herewith,  a  letter  lrom  W..  P.  Wood,  Super 
i  .tendent  of  the  Old  Capitol  Prison,  addressed  to  Maj.  Gen.  E.  A. 
1  itchcock,  to  which  I  specially  call  your  attention. 

Will  you  release  our  citizens,  whom  you  hold  confined  in  your 
rvisons,  against  whom  there  arc  no  charges?  There  is  no  disposition 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States  authorities  to  harrasa  or  annoy  citi- 
•/  v.?-.  In  all  cases  heretofore,  so  far  as  I  know,  whenever  southern 
c'tizens  have  been  arrested,  it  has  been  for  special  reasons,  marking 
the  individuals  as  seperated  from  the  mass  of  a  community.  I  know 
•  citizen  of  the  South  who  is  held  by  the  United  States  authori- 
ty merely  because  he  belongs  to  the  South.  If  you  know  of  any 
Buck,  name  there,  and  they  shall  be  sent  home.  Some  time  since,  the 
United  States  authorities  arrested  two  citizens  in  Virginia,  for  special 
c  use.  The  Richmond  authorities  arrested  two  supposed  Union  men, 
I  »  answer  for  those  mentioned  above,  without  any  charges  against 
t^em.  Why  are  not  these  men  released?  Within  twenty-four  hours 
j-fter  any  given  time,  the  United  Statos  authorities  can  arrest  double 
or  treble  the  number  of  citizens  of  the  South,  that  you  hold  of  citizens 
the  North  ;  and,  though  they  have  hitherto  refrained  from  the  arrest 
of  citizens,  as  such,  the  detention  of  citizens  in  the  Richmond  prisons, 
c>-  elsewhere  in  the  South,  as  Union  men,  may  necessitate  a  recourse 
t<  similar  proceedings  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  of  the  United 
[■vates. 

[Should  the  infliction  of  such  misery  on  the  citizens  of  the  South  be 
ii  augurated,  on  their  own  authorities  will  rest  the  onus. 
Res-i'-ctfullv.  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  MEREDITH, 
Brig.  Gsn.,and  Commissioner  for  Exchange. 


7.S 


[No.  12.1 

MR.  GULP  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH 

Confederate  States  of  America,  War  Department,      ) 

Richmond,  Va.f  Oct.  31,  1863.  i 
Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchav 

Sir:   In  relation  to  your  communication  of  the  23d instant,  en. 
ing  a  letter  from  "\\".  P.  Wood  to  Gen.  Hitchcock,  1   submit   the  fol- 
lowing : 

More  than  a  year  ago,  recognizing  the  injustice  of  the  arrest  of 
non-combatants,  T  submitted  the  following  proposition  to  the  Federal 
authorities,  to  wit :  "That  peaceable,  non-combatant  citizens,  of  both 
the  United  States  and  the  Confederate  States,  who  are  not  connected 
with  any  military  organization,  shall  not  be  arrested  by  either  the 
United  States  or  Confederate  armies  within  the  territory  of  the  ad- 
verse party.  If  this  proposition  is  too  broad,  let  the  only  exception 
be  the  case  of  a  temporary  arrest  of  parties  within  army  lines,  where 
the  arresting  party  has  good  reason  to  believe  that  their  presence  is 
dangerous  to  the  safety  of  the  army,  from  the  opportunity  afforded  of 
giving  intelligence  to  the  enemy.  It  is  to  be  understood,  however,  in 
the  latter  case,  the  arrest  is  to  cease  as  soon  as  the  reason  for  making 
it  ceases,  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  army,  or  for  any  other  cause.  This 
proposal  is  understood  to  include  such  arrests  and  imprisonments  as 
are  already  in  force." 

Although  this  proposition,  so  reasonable  and  humane  in  its  terms, 
has  been  before  your  Government  for  more  than  a  year,  it  has  never 
been  accepted.  I  now,  again,  invite  your  attention  to  it.  If  it  does 
not  suit  3'ou,  I  will  thank  you  to  suggest  any  modification.  I  am  will- 
ing to  adopt  any  fair  and  reciprocal  rule  that  will  settle  this  matter 
on  principle.  It  must,  however,  be  settled  by  rule.  It  carjnot,  with 
any  safety,  bo  determined  by  "  special  cases." 

You  ask  me  if  I  will  release  your  citizens,  against  whom  there  are 
no  charges.  Would  it  not  be  more  liberal  to  make  that  offer  on  your 
part,  as  far  as  our  citizens  are  concerned,  before  you  ask  our  consent  ? 
You  have  kept  Confederate  citizens  in  prison  for  many  mouths,  with- 
out charges.  Most  of  them  have  never  had  any  charges  preferred 
against  them,  although,  in  the  opinion  of  your  authorities,  there  were 
"  special  reasons"  for  their  arrest.  How  easy  is  it  to  give  or  invent 
a  special  reason?  In  all  probability,  there  has  never  been  an  arrest 
and  imprisonment,  on  either  side,  since  this  war  began,  for  which 
there  was  not  a  "special  cause."  An  arrest  for  retaliatory 
even,  is  special. 

As  far  as  the  arrest  of  citizens  of  the  Confederate  State*,  by  our 
authorities,  is  concerned,  we  will  submit  to  no  interference,  in  any 
way,  by  the  Federal  Government.  It  is  a  matter  with  which  you 
have  nothing  to  do.     The  Confederate  authorities  do  not  interfere  with 


74 

your  arrests,  of  your  own  people,  no  matter  what  injustice  has  beer, 
done  to  them.  Any  attempt,  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Government. 
to  interpose  in  cases  which  only  concern  our  authorities,  and  the 
people  of  these  Confederate  States,  may  be  juatiy  styled  impertinent 
and  meddlesome.  As  far,  however,  as  the  arrests  of  citizens  of  the 
advere  •  is  concerned,  we  are,  at  all  times,  ready  to  adopt  any 

fair  ami   reciprocal  rule. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULB,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


CORRESPONDENCE 

Relative    to    the    Retention    of   Exchanged    oral    Unexchanged    Officer* 

and   Men. 


[No.  13.1 

LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  MR    OULD. 

Headquarters  Df.p't  of   V,\.,  7th  Army  Corps, 
Fort  Monioe,   Va.,   April  8,    1863. 

Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

.  Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners  : 

Sir  :  The  best  Diode  of  Arranging  all  questions  relating  to  exchange 
of  officers,  is  to  revoke,  formally  or  informally,  the  offensive  procla- 
mation relating  to  our  officers. 

I  simply  ask  that  you  say,  by  authority,  that  such  proclamation  is 
revoked.  The  spirit  of  that  proclamation  was  the  infliction  of  per- 
sonal indignities  upon  our  officers,  and  as  long  as  it  remains  unre- 
pealed, it  can  be  at  any  moment  put  in  force  by  your  authorities 
What  assurance  have  we  that  it  will  not  be? 

I  earnestly  desire  a  return  to  the  cartel  in  all  matters  pertaining 
to  officers,  and  until  such  be  the  case,  and  uniformity  of  rule  be 
thereby  estabished,  our  exchanges  of  officer;  must  be  special.  Sonu 
of  our  officers,  paroled  at  Vicksburg,  were  subsequently  placed  in  close 
confinement,  and  are  now  so  held.  If,  hereafter,  we  parole  any  of 
your  officers,  such  paroles  will  be  offset  against  any  which  you  may 
possess.  At  pit  sent  the  exchanges  will  be  confined  to  such  equiva- 
lents as  are  held  in  confinement  on  either  side 

I  hope  you  will  soon  be  able  to  remove  all  difficulties  about  officers, 
by  the  revocation  I  have  mentioned. 

By  reference  to   the  map,   you   will   sec  that  Fort   Delaware  i 
•route  to  Fort  Monroe.     It  is  used  as  a  depot  for  collecting  of  prisoners, 
sent  from  other  places  for   shipment  here,   and  is.  from  its  peculiar 
position,  "well  adapted  for  convenience  for  ezchan 

If  any  mistake  be  found  in  the  account  of  men  paroled  by  Lieut. 
Col.  Richards,  at  Oxford,  Miss.,  on  the  E2d  of  December,  1868,  h 
can  be  rectified  when  we  meet. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

WM.    11.    LUDDOW, 
Lieut.  Col.  ond    l      '     •■  Exchcuige  <>J  Prisoners, 

I  have  wri;t<       to   .Mr.  Hoffman    to  send   T.  J.  Punn.  \v  E 

ISth  Mississippi  regiment,  and  now  said  to  tx  at  Locust 


76 

0.  14. J 

MR.  OULD  TO  LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW 

Richmond.  April  11th.   1863. 

Lieut.  Col.  Wm.  H.  Ludlow, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

Sut  :  Your  letters  of  the  8th  instant  have  been  received. 

I  am  very  much  surprised  at  your  refusal  to  deliver  officers  for 
those  of  your  own  who  have  been  captured,  paroled,  and  released  by 
us,  since  the  date  of  the  proclamation  and  message  of  President 
Davis.  That  refusal  is  not  only  a  flagrant  breach  of  the  cartel,  but 
can  be  supported  by  no  rule  of  reciprocity  or  equity.  It  is  utterly 
useless  to  argue  any  such  matter.  I  assure  you  that  not  one  officer 
of  any  grade  will  be  delivered  to  you,  until  you  change  your  purpose 
in  that  respect.  » 

You  have  charged  us  with  breaking  the  cartel.  With  what  sort  of 
justice  can  that  allegation  be  supported,  when  you  delivered  only  a 
few  days  ago  over  ninety  officers,  most  of  whom  had  been  forced  to 
Janguish  and  suffer  in  prisons  for  months  before  we  were  compelled 
by  that  and  other  reasons  to  issue  the  retaliatory  order  of  which  you 
complain  ?  Those  ninety-odd  are  not  one-half  of  those  whom  you 
unjustly  hold  in  prison.  On  the  other  hand,  I  defy  you  to  name  the 
case  of  cne  who  is  confined  by  us,  Avhom  our  agreement  has  declared 
exchanged.  Is  it  your  idea  that  we  are  to  be  bound  by  every  strict- 
ness of  the  cartel,  while  you  are  at  liberty  to  violate  it  for  months, 
and  that,  too,  not  only  in  a  few  instances,  but  in  hundreds?  You 
know  that  our  refusal  to  parole  officers,  was  a  matter  exclusively  of 
retaliation.  It  was  based  only  upon  your  refusal  to  observe  the  require- 
ments of  the  cartel.  All  that  you  had  to  do  to  remove  the  obnoxious 
measure  of  retaliation,  was  to  observe  the  provisions  of  the  cartel 
:nd  redress  the  wrongs  which  had  been  perpetrated. 

Your  last  resolution,  if  persisted  in,  settles  the  matter.  You  need 
not  send  any  officers  to  City  Foint,  with  the  expectation  of  getting 
in  equivalent  in  officers,  so  long  as  you  refuse  to  deliver  any  for 
those  whom  we  have  released  on  parole  in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky^. 
Tf  captivity,  privation,  and  misery  are  to  be  the  fate  of  officers  on 
both  sides  hereafter,  let  God  judge  between  us.  I  have  struggled  in 
this  matter,  as  if  it  had  been  a  matter  of  life  and  death  to  me.  I  am 
heartsick  at  the  termination,  but  I  have  no  self  reproaches. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  OULD, 

Agent  of  Exchange 


[No.  15. 
MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Richmond,  Oct.  2d,  186.3 

Brigadier  General  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  for  Exchange  : 

S[R  :  I  am  very  glad  that  Lieuts.  Baker,  Pumphrey,  Cruteher, 
and  Thorpe  have  at  last  been  released.  There  are  many  other 
officers  yet  behind,  precisely  in  their  situation.  I  have  frequently 
given  a  list  of  them  to  your  predecessor.  I  will  furnish  you  one  if 
vou  desire  it  You  say  the  above-named  have  been  detained  by  "some 
unaccountable  mistake."  Each  of  their  names,  with  the  places  of 
confinement,  has  been  more  than  once  presented  to  the  Federal  agent. 
Lieut.  Baker  was  at  Fortress  Monroe,  the  headquarters  of  the  Agent 
of  Exchange,  for  months.     It  is,  indeed,  "unaccountable." 

I  will  make  inquiry  as  to  John  W.  Woolsey.  Brengle  did  not 
belong  to  the  ranitary  commission.  He  was  arrested  upon  his  return 
from  a  difficult  and  hazardous  military  enterprise  for  which  he  was 
specially  employed  and  paid.  If  you  can  bring  him  within  the  rule 
established  as  to  members  of  the  sanitary  commission,  I  will  release 
him. 

Charles  W.  Webster  is  at  Castle  Thunder.  He  is  a  citizen,  abiding 
in  captivity  until  you  release  the  non-combatants  arrested  on  our 
soil  and  carried  off  to  your  prisons.  I  will  make  inquiry  into  the 
case  of  Henry  D.   Barnett. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  OULD, 

nt  for  Exchange. 


[No.  16.] 
MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

C.  ?.  A.,  War    Depaetment, 

Ric/nyiond,  Vc,  Oct.  23.  1*63. 

Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Mkkkmth, 

Agi~nt  of  Exchange  : 

Sia  :    Capt.  Frank  Battle.  20th  regiment  lee  volunteer 

S.  A.,  is  now  and  has  been  for  some  time   past  in  irons  at   Nashville. 
It  is  alleged    that  he   is   ironed   in    retaliation   for  similar   treatment 
inflicted  by  the   Confederate  authorities,   upon   Capt.  £h:nie   II 
company  1>.  3d  East  Tei  nessee  cavalry,  who  was  captured  on  or 
the  26th  of  I'ecembcr,    I88t.     1  h  -1   order.  No.  61, 


78 

tolled  by  Brig.  Gen.  K.  S.  Granger,  dated  August  3d,  1863,  in  which 
It  is  directed  that  Capt.  Battle  shall  be  so  treated  and  held. 

Capt.  Shade  Harris,  before  he  joined  the  Federal  army,  was  a 
Confederate  soldier.  He  deserted,  and  was  subsequently  captured  in 
arms.  For  the  crime  of  desertion,  he  was  tried  before  a  court  martial, 
found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  death.  Before  conviction,  he  was 
neither  closely  confined  or  ironed.  His  father  had  access  to  him  both 
both  before  and  after  his  trial.  The  President,  in  mercy,  commuted 
'.he  sentence  to  imprisonment  For  that  imprisonment  your  authori- 
ties have  seen  fit  to  put  in  irons  and  close  imprisonment  an  officer 
captured  in  open  warfare  and  against  whom  no  personal  charges  have 
,  preferred.  I  am  very  sure  this  statement  is  in  entire  conformity 
with  the  facts.  If  so,  you  deny  our  authority  to  try  and  punish  a 
deserter  from  our  army,  even  when  the  desertion  is  inflamed  iindmade 
more  heinous  by  direct  support  and  succor  to  the  enemy.  I  am 
strongly  in  hope  that  the  mere  statement  of  this  case  is  sufficient  to 
■show  the  manifest  wrong  of  the  proceedings  against  Capt.  Battle.  I 
♦fill  thank  you  to  inform  me,  if,  upon  the  foregoing  facts,  your  Gov- 
ernment justifies  its  treatment  of  Capt.  Battle,  and  whether  you 
intend,  by  any  form  of  retaliation  upon  our  soldiers,  to  contest  our 
right 'to  punish  desertion  from  our  service,  where  the  offending  party 
has  subsequently  joined  your  army  and  been  captured  by  our  forces. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  OULD, 

Agent  of  Exchange. 


CORRESPONDENCE 

Relative  to  the  General  Orders  of  the   United  States,  and  their  connection 
vnth  declarations  of  Exchange. 


[No.   I?.] 
Mil.  OULD  TO  LIEUT.  COL.   LUDLOW. 

Richmond,  Juno  10,  1863. 

Lv.eut.  Col.  Wm.  H,  Ludlow, 

Agent  of  Exchange  :  '    ■ 

Sir  :  On  the  5th  day  of  June,  1863,  I  requested  you  to  inform  me 
when  general  order,  No,  100,  was  to  be  considered  as  going  into  effect. 
To  that  you  have  returned  no  answer.  Its  date  is  April  24,  1863. 
You  delivered  it  to  me  on  the  23d  May,  1863. 

1 1  perceive  by  a  general  order,  No.  15,  March  9th,  1363,  issued  by 
General  Schenck,  that  all  officers  and  men,  who  had  been  captured  in 
his  department,  and  particularly  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  and 
released  on  parole,  and  not  regularly  exchanged,  snould  return  to 
duty  and  service,  on  penalty  of  being  considered  deserters.  \\T\\*iu 
you  delivered  general  order,  No.  100,  to  me,  I  inquired  of  you  as  to 
the  date  when  it  went  into  effect.  I  understood  you  to  say,  the  date 
of  its  dejivery.  You  may,  therefore,  well  imagine  my  surprise,  when 
I  perceive  that  by  the  general  order  of  one  of*  your  departmental  com- 
manders, the  new  provisions  as  to  paroles,  are  not  only  to  have  effect 
from  and  after  March  9th,  1863,  but  are  made  to  apply  to  all  cases 
previous  to  that  date,  without  any  limitation  as  to  time.  This  is  not 
>nly  contrary  to  your  own  declarations  to  me,  but  to  our  common 
practice  up  to  May  23d,  1863.  You  have^charged  against  m 
received  credit  for  several  captures  made  by  General  Stoneman,s  com- 
mand,  in  his  recent  raid.  Is  it  pretended  that  you  are  to  have  credit 
for  captures  made  by  your  commands,  while  none  is  to  be  given  to  us 
under  precisely  the  same  circumstances  ?    Is  this  fair,  or  just,  or  ; 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

BO.  OULD, 

Agent  nf  Exchange. 


80 

[No.  18.] 

LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Headquarters,  Department  of  Virginia,  ^ 

Seventh  Army  Corps,  > 

Fort  Monroe,  July  7,   1863.      ) 

Hon.  Robert  Oild, 

Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners  : 

Sir.  :  I  herewith  enclose  to  you  a  copy  of  general  order  No.  207, 
which  contains  some  additional  provisions  to  those  mentioned  in  my 
communication  to  you  of  the  82d  May  last.  It  is  understood  that 
officers  of  the  United  States,  and  Confederate  officers  have  at  various 
times  and  places  paroled  and  released  prisoners  of  war,  not  in  accord- 
ance Avith  the  cartel. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  will  not  recognize,  and  will 
not  expect  the  Confederate  authorities  to  recognize,  such  unauthorized 
paroles.  Prisoners  released  on  parole,  not  authorized  by  the  cartel, 
after  my  notice  to  you  of  the  22d  May,  will  not  be  regarded  as  prison- 
ers of  war,  and  will  not  be  exchsftiged. 

When  prisoners  of  war  have  been  released  without  the  delivery 

specified    in  the  cartel,  since  the  22d  May  last,  such  release  will^e 

regarded  as   unconditional,  and  the  prisoners  released,  as  subject  to 

orders  without  exchange,  the  same  as  if  they  had  never  been  captured. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  II.  LUDLOW, 
Lieut.  pol.  und  A^ent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners, 


[No.  19.] 


War  Department,  ; 

Adjutant  General's  Office.      i 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  3,   1863.  ) 

General  Orders, 
No.  207. 

I.  The  attention  of  all  persons  in  the  military  service  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  is  called  to  article  seven  of  the  cartel,  agreed  upon  on  the 
22d  of  July,  1S62,  and  published  in  general  orders  No.  142,  Septem- 
ber 25th,  1862.  According  to  the  terms  of  this  cartel,  all  captures 
must  be  reduced  to  actual  possession,  and  all  prisoners  of  war  must 
be  delivered  at  the  places  designated,  there  to  be  exchanged,  or 
paroled  until  exchange  can  be  effected.  The  only  exception  allowed 
is  the  case  of  commanders  of  two  opposing  armies,  who  are  authorized 


81 

to  exchange  prisoners,  or  to  release  them  on  parole  at  other  points 
mutually  agreed  upon  by  said  commanders. 

II.  It  is   understood   that  captured    officers   and    men    have 
paroled  and  released  in  the  field  by  others  than  commanders  of  op| 
ing  armies,  and  that  the  sick  and  wounded  in  hospitals  have  been  s< 
paroled  and  released,  in  order  to  avoid  guarding  and   removing  tl 
which,  in  many  cases,  would  have  been  impossible.      Such  pai 

in  violation  of  general  orders  and  the  stipulation?  of  the  cartel,  and 
are  null  and  void.  They  are  not  regarded  by  the  enemy,  and  will  not 
be  respected  in  the  armies  of  the  United  States.  Any  offte- 
soldier  who  gives  such  parole  will  be  returned  to  duty  without 
exchange,  and,  moreover,  will  be  punished  for  disobedience  of  orders. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  captor  to  guard  his  prisoners,  and  if,  th; 
necessity  or  choice  he  fail  to  do  this,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  prisoner  to 
return  to  the  service  of  his  Government,  lie  cannot  avoid  this  duty 
by  giving  an  unauthorized  military  parole. 

III.  A  military  parole  not  to  serve  till  exchanged,  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  a  pnrok  of  honor  to  do  or  not  to  do  a  particular  thing 
not  inconsistent  with  the  duty  of  a  soldier.  Thus,  a  prisoner  of  war, 
actually  held  by  the  enemy,  may,  in  order  to  obtain  exemption  from  a 
close  guard  or  confinement,  pledge  his  parole  of  honor  that  he  will 
make  no  attempt  to  escape.  Such  pledges  are  binding  upon  the 
individuals  giving  them,  but  they  should  seldom  be  given  or  ree< 

for  it  is  the  duty  of  the  prisoner  to  escape,  if  able  to  do  BO.  Ai  3 
pledge  or.  parole  of  honor  extorted  from  a  prisoner  by  ilLifBuge  01 
cruelty  is  not  binding. 

IV.  The  obligations  imposed  by  the   general   laws   and   usages  of 
war  upon  the  non-combatant  inhabitants  of  a  section  of  country  pa 
over  by  an  invading  army,  cease  \thcn  the  military  occupation  c< 

and  any  pledge  or  parole  given  by  such  persons  in  regard  to  future 
service,  is  null  and  of  no  effect. 

Bv  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War. 

E.  D.  TOWNSgEND, 
.  Assistant  Adjutant  (Imeral. 

(Official  copy,)  J.  C.  KELTOff, 


Headquarters  Army,  July  8,  1S63. 


tant  Adjx  '<   fteral. 


[No.  20.] 

MB.  OULD  TO  LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW. 

Confederate  States  or  America,  War  Departm*    t.       / 

Richmond,  Va.,  July  13,  186 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Wm.  IT.  Ludlow, 
Agent  of  E 

Sir:   I  have  declared   exchanged   Lieutenant  ton. 

Majors  General  Stevenson,  Forney,  II.  L.  Smith,  and  Kowcn  ;    B 
G 


82 

adier  Generals  Barton,  Lee,  dimming,  Moore,  Hebert,  Baldwin, 
Vaughan,  and  Shoup ;  Colonels  Reynolds,  Waul,  and  Cockerill ;  and 
Brigadier  General  Harris,  of  the  Missouri  militia;  all  of  whom  were 
recently  captured  and  paroled  at  Vicksburg. 

You    can   take    the  equivalents    out  of  the  officers    captured    and 
paroled  by  us  at  Chancellorsville,  or  from  privates,  as  you  prefer. 
Respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant 

RO.  OULD, 
Agent  of  Exchange, 


[No.  21.] 
LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Headquarters  Dep't  of  Virginia,  7th  Army  Corps,      } 

Fort  Monroe,  July  14,  1863.  \ 

Hon.  Robert  Ould,  / 

Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners  : 

Sir  :  I  decline  to  unite  with  you  in  your  declaration  of  the  exchange- 
of  the  officers  named  by  you  in  your  communication  of  the  13th 
instant,  just  received,  and  who  form  a  part  of  those  captured  at 
Vicksburg. 

In  violation  of  the  cartel,  you  rrow  hold,  in  close  confinement,  many 
of  our  officers,  though  their  release  was  long  ago  demanded,  and  their 
equivalents  tendered  to  you.  You  even  permitted  these  equivalents 
to  be  sent  back  to  Fort  Monroe  from  City  Point.  In  this  position  of 
affairs,  and  being  in  entire  ignorance  of  what  you  propose  to  do  with 
our  officers  now  in  your  hands,  I  must  decline  any  special  arrange- 
ments until  we  meet.  This  meeting,  with  your  consent,  will  take 
place  as  soon  as  I  shall  have  received  the  parole3  of  the  Vicksburg 
captures. 

Please,  therefore,  notify  the  officers  named  by  you,  that  their 
exchange  cannot  be  recognized  by  our  authorities,  until  the  declara- 
tions be  united  in  by  me. 

In  making  arrangements  with  you  for  exchanges  of  paroles  of 
officers,  I  shall  expect  to  exhaust  equivalents  of  equal  rank,  before 
we  take  up  those  of  higher  rank. 

To  settle  all  difficulties  connected  with  exchanges  of  officers.  I 
again  invite  you  to  a  return  to  the  cartel,  and,  if  you  refuse,  I  again 
r.sk  you,  why  such  refusal. 

I  am,  very  respectfully. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  II.  LUDLOW, 
Lieutenant  Colonel,  and  Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 


83 

The  declaration  of  exchange  made  by  you  on  the  2d  instant,  leave 
you  in  debt  to  me  between  eight  and  nine  hundred  men.  Pleaso  make 
no  more  declarations  until  we  meet. 


[No.   22.] 

MR.  OULD  TO  LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW. 

Richmond,  July  17,  1863. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Wm.  H.  Ludlow, 

Agen'  of  Exchange  : 

Sir  :  In  my  communication  to  you  of  the  13th  instant,  declaring 
the  exchange  of  certain  officers  who  had  been  captured  and  paroled  at 
Vicksburg,  I  only  did  what  you  yourself  have  frequently  done.  On 
at  least  one  occasion,  you  went  farther  than  I  presumed  to  go  You 
declared  your  men  exchanged,  when  you  had  no  equivalents  to  offer 
You  say  in  your  letter  of  the  14th  instant,  that  you  decline  to  unite 
with  me  in  my  declaration,  and  request  me  to  notify  the  officers  that 
their  exchange  cannot  be  recognized.  I  call  your  attention  to  the 
fifth  article  of  the  cartel,  which  provides  that  "  each  party  upon  the 
discharge  of  prisoners  of  the  other  party,  is  authorized  to  discharge 
an  equal  number  of  their  own  officers  or  men  from  parole."  I  have 
exercised  a  clear  right  under  the  cartel — one  that  you  have  exercised 
over  and  over  again.  I  have  already  delivered  to  you  the  equivalents 
of  these  officers,  which  equivalents  you  may  declare  exchanged.  My 
right  to  declare  these  officers  exchanged  does  not  depend  upon  your 
assent.  After  I  have  given  you  equivalents,  their  exchange  is  per- 
fected by  my  declaration,  whether  you  "decline  to  unite"  with  me 
or  not.  I  shall  not,  therefore,  give  the  notice  which  you  request 
The  officers  referred  to  are  already  rightfully  and  properly  exchanged. 
The  right  to  declare  officers  and  men  exchanged  where  equivalents 
have  been  delivered,  is  one  that  I  cannot  yield,  and  I  am  unwilling 
to  bind  myself  by  an  agreement  not  to  exercise  that  right  "  until  we 
meet." 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD, 
Agent  of  Exchange. 


84 

* 

jNo.  23.] 

LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  MR.  OULD. 

New  York.  July  22,  186S. 
Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners  : 

Sin :  Your  communication  of  the  17th  instant  has  been  forwarded 
to  me  here. 

There  is  no  authority  in  the  cartel  for  your  proposed  declaration  of 
exchange  of  your  officers  captured  at  Vicksburg,  in  the  manner  you 
indicate.  The  cartel  provides  for  exchanges  of  equal  rank,  until  such 
are  exhausted,  and  then  for  equivalents. 

In  consequence  of  the  very  much  larger  number  of  officers  and 
'men  we  hold  on  parole  and  in  confinement,  you  can  give  no  equiva- 
lents for  the  general  officers  you  desire  to  have  exchanged.  You 
cannot,  for  a  moment,  assume  that  you  can  select  a  general  officer, 
and  declare  his  equivalents  in  those  of  inferior  rank,  when  Ave  hold 
the  paroles  of  your  officers  of  the  same  rank  as  the  latter.  But  even 
supposing  this  arrangement  >vas  permitted  by  the  cartel,  I  do  not  sec 
how  you  could  avail  yourself  of  it  at  this  time.  You  will  recollect 
that  since  the  pioclamation  of  the  Hon.  Jefferson  Davis,  of  December 
last,  and  more  especially  since  the  passage  of  the  act  of  your  Con- 
gress in  reference  to  our  captured  officers,  both  of  which  were  in  vio- 
lation of  the  cartel,  and  have  caused  in  the  one  case  aternporary,  and 
in  the  other  a  continued  suspension  of  exchanges  of  officers  under  the 
cartel  that  all  such  exchanges  have  been  subjects  of  special  agreement 
between  us.  To  avoid  the  complication  and  annoyance  of  these 
special  agreements,  I  have  again  and  again  urged  you  to  a  return  to 
the  cartel,  but  up  to  the  present  moment  in  vain.  On  the  contrary, 
you  retain  in  close  confinement  large  numbers  of  our  officers  for  whom 
I  have  made  a  demand  and  tendered  equivalents.  Until  you  consent 
to  a  return  to  the  terms  prescribed  by  the  cartel  for  exchanges  of 
officers,  I  shall  not  consent  to  any  exchanges  of  them,  except  on 
special  agreements. 

1  repeat  that  I  decline  to  unite  in  your  proposed  declaration  of 
exchange  of  officers  captured  at  Vicksburg,  and  if  recaptured  they 
will  be  dealt  with  as  violators  of  their  parole. 

Ought  you  not,  in  justice  to  them,  to  notify  them  of  the  exact 
condition  of  their  cases,  and  thus  enable  them  to  avoid  being  placed 
in  a  false  position. 

If  you  are  authorized  to  deliver  our  officers  now  held  in  close  con- 
finement, and  to  a  return  to  the  cartel  in  exchanges  of  all  officers,  all 
the  complicated  questions  which  foave  arisen  within  the  last  few  months 
■can  be  promptly  disposed  of.  To  such  a  return,  in  the  name  of  hu- 
manity, I  again  invite  you.     I  am  now   only   waiting  the  receipt  of 


85 

papers,  connected  with  the  Vicksburg  captures,  before  going  to  City 
Point. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

•  WM.  II.  LUDLOW, 
Lieutenant  Colonel,  and  Agent  of  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 


[No.  24.] 
MR.  OULD  TO  LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW. 

Confederate  States  of  America.,  War  Departmet,      ) 
Richmond,  Va.,  July  26th,  1-863.  \ 
Col.  Wm.   II.  Ludlov 

Agent  of  Exchange  : 

Sir:  Your  communication  of  the  22nd  contests  my  declaration  of 
exchanges  of  officers  made  on  the  17th  instant.  You  say  "  the  cartel 
provides  for  the  exchange  of  equal  ranks,  until  such  are  exhausted, 
and  then  for  equivalents."'  If  you  had  been  at  Fortress  Monroe, 
where  you  could  have  seen  the  cartel,  instead  of  New  York,  from 
which  your  letter  is  dated,  you  would  have  written  no  such  paragraph. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  cartel  which  contains  any  such  doctrine',  or 
which  favors  it.     Every   provision  is  against  it.     Your  1  my 

practice  have  been  opposed  to  it.  I  again  say  to  you  what  I  have  al- 
ready stated  in  my  communication  of  the  1 7th.  instant,  that  your  as- 
Hiit  is  not  needed  to  the  declared  exchange,  and  I  shall  not  notify  the 
officers,  whom  I  have  declared  exchanged,  as  you  request.  I  have  al- 
lowed you  to  declare  exchanges  when  the  number  of  prisoners  in 
our  hands  has  been  the  greater.  This  has  been  the  case  from  the  day 
when  we  first  met  in  the  fall  of  last  year,  to  the  capture  at  Vicksburg. 
Now,  when  you  havC  scarcely  received  official  advices  of  yo 
riority  in  prisoners,  you  boast  of  the  fact,  and  declare  that  I  cannot 
give  an  equivalent  for  the  general  officers  I  have  declared  exchanged. 
The  point  you  mal  \orth  nothing,  even  as  you  ha  1  it. 

5  know  we  have  no  Lieutenant  Generals  or  Major  Generals  of  youra 
in  our  hands.  For  that  reason  I  have  declared  them  exchanged  in 
privates  or  inferior  officers  at  your  election.  I  had  the  right,  under 
the  cartel,  to  make  the  choice  myself,  but  I  preferred  that  you  should 
do  it,  and)  therefore,  I  gave  you  the  notification  w^ich  I  did.  If,  at 
any  time,  you  present  officers  for  exchange  who  lrave  been 
and  we  have  no  officers  of  similar  rai  ,  you  can  declare 

their  exchange  in  privates.  If,  it  at  thi>  time,  you  have  any  officers 
of  the  rank  I  have  declared  exchanged,  or  of  any  other  rank,  or  if 
you  have  any  particular  organization  of  private  or  non-commissioned 
officers  whom  you  wish  exchanged,  you  have  only  to  State  sucl 
and  your  selection  will  be  approved.  If  you  hold  the  paroh  !  of  our 
rs  of  any   rank    as   you  state,  you  have  only  to   present  I 


86 

and  whatever  is  in  our  hands,  whether  on  parole  or  in  captivity,  will 
be  freely  given  in  exchange  for  them.  You  say  you  have  again  and 
again  invited  me  to  a  return  to  the  cartel.  Now  that  our  official  con- 
nection is  being  terminated,  I  Bay  to  you  in  the  fear  of  God — and  I 
appeal  to  Him  for  the  truth  of  tha  declaration — that  there  has  been 
no  single  moment,  from  the  time  when  we  were  first  brought  together 
in  connectoin  with  the  matter  of  exchange  to  the  present  hour,  during 
■which  there  has  not  been  an  open  and  notorious  violation  of  the  car- 
tel, by  your  authorities  Officers  and  men,  numbering  over  hundreds, 
have  been,  during  your  whole  connection  with  the  cartel,  kept  in  cruel 
confinement,  sometimes  in  irons,  or  doomed  to  cells,  without  charges 
or  trial.  They  are  in  prison  now,  unless  God,  in  His  mercy,  has 
released  them.  In  our  parting  moments,  let  me  do  you  the  justice 
to  say  that  I  do  not  believe  it  is  so  much  your  fault  as  that  of  your 
authorities.  Nay  more,  I  believe  your  removal  from  your  position 
has  been  owing  to  the  personal  efforts  you  have  made  for  a  faithful 
observance,  not  only  of  the  cartel,  but  of  humanity  in  the  conduct  of 
the  war. 

Again  and  again  have  I  importuned  you  to  tell  me  if  one  officer  or 
man  now  hell  in  confinement  by  us,  who  was  declared  exchanged. 
You  have,  to  those  appeals,  furnished  one,  Spencer  Kellog.  For  him 
I  have  searched  in  vain.  On  the  other  hand,  I  appeal  to  your  own 
records  for  the  cases  where  your  reports  have  shown  that  our  officers 
and  men  have  been  held  for  long  months  and  even  years  in  violation 
of  the  cartel  and  our  agreements.  The  last  phase  of  the  enormity, 
however,  exceeds  all  others.  Although  you  have  many  thousands  of 
our  soldiers  now  in  confinement  in  your  prisoners,  and  especially  in 
that  horrible  hold  of  death,  Fort  Deleware,  you  have  not,  for  several 
weeks,  sent  us  any  prisoners.  During  those  weeks  you  have  dis- 
patched Captain  Mulford  with  the  steamer  New  York  to  City  Point, 
three  or  four  times  without  any  prisoners.  For  the  first  two  or  three 
times  some  sort  of  an  excuse  was  attempted.  None  is  given  at  this 
present  arrival.  I  do  not  mean  to  be  offensive  when  I  say  that  ef- 
frontery could  not  give  one.  I  ask  you  with  no  purpose  of  disrespect, 
what  can  you  think  of  this  covert  attempt  to  secure  the  delivery  of 
all  your  prisoners  in  our  hands,  without  the  release  of  those  of  ours 
who  are  languishing  in  hopeless  misery  in  your  prisons  and  dun- 
geons ? 

Respectfully, 

Your  obd't  serv't, 

ROB'T.  OULD, 
Agent  of  Exchange, 


87 

X   •  25.] 
EXCHANGE  NOTICE,  No.  6, 

RjchAomd,  September  12.  \> 

The  following  confederate  officers  and  men,  captured  ;it  Yi 
Miss.,  July  4,  1S63,  and   subsequently  paroled   have  been 
changed,  and  are  hereby  so  declared: 

1.  The  officers  and  men  of  Gen.  C.  L.  Stevenson's  division. 

2.  The  officers  and  men  of  Gen.  Bowen's  division. 

3.  The  officers  and  men  of  Brig.  Gen.  Moore's  brigade. 

4.  The  officers  and  men  of  the  2d  Texas  regiment. 

5.  The  officers  and  men  of  Waul's  legion. 

6.  Also,  all  confederate  officers  and  men  -who  have  been  deliver 
City  Point  at  any  time  previous  to  July  2oth,  1863,  have    been    duly 
exchanged,  and  are  hereby  so  declared. 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Excha 


-  No.  26.] 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  GUM). 

Hd.  Qits.  Pfpt.  of  Va.,  Skvknth  Army  Corps.      ) 
Fortress  Monroe,  September  24th,  186 

.  Robt.  Ould,  Agent,  &>'c : 

Sir:  To  your*  declaration  of  exchange  of  the  12th  instant,   I 

brm  you  that  1  hive  this  day  announced  the  following  : 
"A  declaration  of  exchange  having  been   annouo 
Esq.,  agent  i  at  Richmond,  Va.,dati  dber  1  J, 

o  moot  the  Bame  in  part,  as  equivalents,  it  is  hereh 
officers  and  men  of  the  United  States  army   captured   a 
time  previou  Jet  Septemb<  r,  1863, 

S.  A.  MEREDITH, 

Hi-  / 

'  The  number  i  f  officer  I  by  the  first  rive 

tions  of  yv a  r  declaration 
The  number  of  enlisted  men  is  -  -  II. 

The  number  of  officei  7  2 

The  number  of  enlisted  men  -  -  B,UH 

Making  a  total  of  officers, 

And  total  of  enlisted  in< 


88 


ite,  ....     24,159 

luced  to  enlisted  men,        -  29, 

Of  the  Federal  troops  on  parole  there  are 

rs,  -  -  -  7ti 

Enlisted  men,  -  19,083 


regate,  -  -  -  -     19,159 

Ueduced  to  enlisted  men,        -  19,4»*9 


Which  gives  a  balance  in  oar  favor,  of  -  -  10,02-1 

1  now  claim  this  balance  which  is  due  us,  and  1  demand  that  ; 

n  to  their  paroles  all  officers  and  men  for  whom  you  have  pai 
[uivalents,  or  that  you  release  an  equal  nui!#ter  from  the  prig 
hmond. 

ir  declaration  was  wholly  unwarranted  underithe  cartel,  and  it 

priety  be  set  aside.     In  it  you  failed  to  announce 

■  the  6th  section,  as  published  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer  of  the 

instant,  which  covers, 72  officers  and  8,i>!4  enlisted  men.     You* 

wi<i  nut,  according  to  the   terms  of  the   cartel,    furnish   ine   with  any 

."  or  even  give  me  the  number  of  men,  by  which  I  could  declare 

alents,  nor  did  you  give  rue  any  time  to  prepare  my  announce- 

J  here  deem  it  incumbent  upon  me  to  state  that  I   consider 

your  course  in  this  matter  a  deliberate   breach   of  good  faith   on   the 

part  of  the  authorities  under  whom  you  act.     The  5th  article   of  the 

cartel  (General  Order*,  No.  142,  )8b'2.)  would  have  authorized  you  til 

discharge  prisoners  of  the  Federal  forces,  furnishing  a  "list'  of  them, 

•  r.d  then  you  could  have  discharged  an   equal    number   of  your  own 

officers  and  men  "from  parole."     The  cartel  not  only  contemplates  a 

'•mutual"  exchange  of  "lists"  (article  5),  but  expressly  declares    (ar- 

d«  4)  that  no  exchange  is  to  be  considered  complete  until  the  officer 

idier  exchanged  for  lias   been   actually  restored   to  the   lines  to 

hte  pai  <;les  gi^eu  at  Gettysburg  and  elsewhere,  you  made,  an 

agreement  with  my  predecessor,  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow,  to  take  effect  frota 

May  22d,  1863,  that  all   paroles  given   not  in   accordance   with  the 

artel,  should  be  considered  null  and  void      II.  •      can  you  claim 

did  the  Gettysburg  paroles  ? 

If  you  have  any  rolls  or  lists  of  any  men  whom   you  have  paroled 

I  have  not  given  yon  credit  for,  or  if  there  should  be  any  errors 

account,  i  will  be  happy  to  rectify  the  sa 

\  ou  declared  exchanged,  before  my  predecessor   was    relieved,  oer- 

tain  i  aptured  at  Vioksburg,  in  which  declaration  he  refused  to 

unite.     There  are  but  two  officers,  I  believe  (Generals  Stevenson  and 

Bowen),  who  are  covered  by  your  declaration  of  the  1 2th  instant.     If 

the  other  officers  named  have  not  been   returned   to   their  paroles,  as 

(requested  by  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow,  you   arc   indebted  to   us  for  their 

equivalents.      The  chief  ground  of  the  objection  to  that  declaration     , 

chat  at  that  time  there  were  no  equivalents  of  the  same  grade  in   our 


« 


possession  (the  only  condition  which  w  mid  have  warranted  your 
making  the  declaration)  ;  and  if  we  consented  to  it  we  would  he  obliged 
to  offset  them  by  officers  of  inferior  rank. 

In  miking  up  the  number  of  Federal  troops  to  be  exchanged,  1  I 
included  all  those  mustered  out  of  the  service,  all  dischai 
and  deceased. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

V.  MEREDITH, 
/>,  f  Exchan 


[No.  2 ' 
MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  3VlEUEDl*H. 

Richmond.  Oct.  2,  1863. 


\ 


Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

Sik  :  Your  communication  of  the  24th  ultimo,  declaring  that  all 
officers  and  men  of  the  United  States  army,  captured  and  paroled  at 
any  time  previous  to  the  1st  of  September,  1863,  are  duly  exchanged. 
has  been  received. 

You  are  aware  that  when  I  met  you  on  the  24th  of  August  last,  at 
City  Point,  1  made  to  you  the  following  proposal,  to  wit:  "  I  propose 
that  all  paroles,  on  both  sides,  heretofore  given,  shall  be  determined 
by  the  General  Orders  issued  by  the  War  Department  of  the  United 
States,  to  wit:  No.  49,  ]STo.  100, and  No.  207,  of  this  year,  according 
ro  their  respective  dates,  and  in  conformity  with  paragraph  131  of 
ral  Order  No.  100,  so  long  as  said  paragraph  was  in  force.  If 
this  proposition  is  not  acceptable,  I  propose  that  the  practice  hereto- 
fore adopt,  d  respecting  paroles  and  exchanges,  be  continued.  In 
other  wordsj  I  propose  that  the  whole  question  of  paroles  be  d 
mined  by  the  General  Orders  of  the  United  States,  according  to  dates, 
or  that  it  be  decided  by  former  practice."  You  have  neither  accepted 
or  declined  cither  branch  of  that  proposal,  although  J  have,  both  in 
person:'!  interview  and  by  letter,  solicited  you  to  do  one  or  the  other. 
On  th<  lay  you  submitted  to  me  your  proposition,  which,  unlike 

■  nine.  \  r%l   prepared   before    hand,   and   which    i-  as   follow-:    "I    pro- 
behalf  of  cut  of  the  United  State-,  thai   all  pa- 

roles  given  by  officers  and  men  between  the  23d  day  of  May,  1863, 
and  tlie  3d  day  of  July*  1863,  not  in  conformity  with  the  Stipulations 
>f  the  cartel,  i-hall  be  regarded  as  null  and  void.  A  declaration  tO 
this  efFec  ublished  to  both   armiea•,,     That  proposition   I    ini- 

iediately  declined.     I  then  and  there  gave  you  my  In  the 

first  place,  1  informed  you  that  the  I  authorities  bad  never, 

•'.!  any  time,  and  did  noi  then  ask  that  pa  M  not  in  conformity 

with  the  stipulations   of   the  cartel,"  should    be  regarded    as  valid.       I 
\urther  told  you   that  an  agreement  to  regard  "as  null  and  void*'  pa- 


90 

roles  between  certain  dates,  which  were  "  not  in  conformity  with  the 
stipulations  of  the  cartel,"  was  an  implication  that  paroles  liable  to 
the  same  objection  before  the  first  named  date  and  after  the  last,  should 
be  regarded  as  valid,  and  was,  therefore,  necessarily  vicious  on  its  very 
face.  I  also  told  you  that  another  reason  for  declining  your  proposi- 
tion, was  the  one  which  caused  you  to  make  it,  to  wit :  that  the  paroles 
which  had  been  given  to  us  were  between  the  dates  embraced  in  your 
proposition,  while  those  given  to  you  were  before  and  after.  When  I 
made  the  objection  to  ybur  proposal,  that  it  intimated  that  paroles 
"  not  in  conformity  with  the  stipulations  of  the  carpel"  before  the  23d 
of  May,  and  after  the  3d  of  July,  of  this  year,  were  to  be  regarded  as 
valid,  I  asked  you  to  state,  in  writing,  that  no  such  intimation  was  con- 
veyed. This  you  declined  to  do,  saying,  somewhat  brusquely,  that  you 
did  not  wish  to  have  any  discussion  about  the  matter.  Upon  my  press- 
ing the  subject,  however  you  put  a  memorandum  at  the  foot  of  the 
proposition,  saying  that  the  proposal  was  in  reply  to  my  letter  of 
August  5,  (863,  and  in  lieu  of  the  proposition  therein  made  by  me. 
You  would  not,  did  not  disclaim  the  implication  which  your  proposi- 
tion contained,  nor  have  you  done  so  since.  My  letter  of  the  5th  of 
August  only  demanded,  in  compliance  with  your  own  General  Order, 
No.  100,  that  if  you  rejected  the  paroles,  the  parties  should  be  deliv- 
ered to  us. 

You  informed  me  that  you  would  transmit  my  proposition  to  Wash- 
ington, and  give  me  a  speedy  answer  in  person  or  by  letter. 

On  the  7th  of  September  I  complained  that  no  reply  had  been  re- 
turned, although  two  weeks  had  elapsed,  and  two  boats  had  been  dis- 
patched to  City  Point  since  the  date  of  our  interview.  At  the  same 
time  I  informed  you  that  the  Confederate  authorities  would  consider 
themselves  entirely  at  liberty  to  pursue  any  course  with  reference  to 
my  proposition  which  they  might  deem  right  and  proper  under  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case. 

Accordingly,  on  the  1 1th  of  September,  in  pursuance  of  this  plain 
intimation,  I  notified  you  that  on  the  following  day  (that  being  the 
time  when  the  notice  would  reach  you)  I  would  declare  exchanged  a- 
portion  of  the  Vicksburg  captures.  I  gave  you  the  divisions,  brig- 
ades, regiments  and  batteries.  I  also  informed  you  that  I  had  in  my 
possession  more  valid  paroles  of  your  officers  and  men  than  would  be 
an  equivalent  for  the  exchange  I  then  declared ;  that,  in  addition,  I 
had  delivered  at  City  Point  some  ten  or  twelve  thousand  men  since  the 
last  declaration  of  exchange ;  that,  as  it  had  been  .the  practice, liow- 
ever,  of  the  agents  of  exchange,  whenever  one  of  them  declared  a  spe- 
cial exchange,  to  allow  the  other  to  select  the  equivalents,  I  gave 
you  that  privilege,  and  if  you  did  not  avail  yourself  of  it,  I  would 
name  the  Federal  officers  and  men  who  were  discharged  from  their 
parole  by  reason  of  the  declaration  of  exchange  then  made.  This 
notification  to  you  was  not  only  in  accordance  with  former  practice, 
but  was  sanctioned  if  not  demanded  by  the  fifth  article  of  the  cartel, 
which,  after  providing  for  the  manner  in  which  "  each  party"  may 
discharge  "their"  officers  and  men  from  parole,  says,  "  thus  enabling 
each  party  to  relieve  from  parole  such  of  their  ovm  officers  and  men  as 


9! 

the  party  may  choose."  I  have  said  this  course  was  in  accordance 
with  former  practice,  and  for  proof,  refer  you  to  the  letters  of  Lieut. 
Col.  Ludlow,  former  agent  of  exchange,  of  the  following  dates  of  this 
year,  to  wit:  April  6th,  8th,  13th,  19th  and  27th;  May  12th,  26th 
and  30th;  June  5th,  9th  and  13th,  wherein  he  declared  the  exchange 
of  Federal  officers  and  men. 

In  one  of  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow's  communications  of  May  30,  13G3, 
he  says  :  "I  have  declared  exchanged  the  Holly  Springs  capture,  the 
9 1st  regiment  Illinois  volunteers,  captured  at  Elizabethtown,  Ky., 
December  27,  1862.  and  the  captures  at  Mt.  Sterling,  on  the  22d  and 
23d  of  March,  1SG3;  also,  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Indianola.  The 
exact  numbers  I  have  not  on  hand,  but  they  foot  up  some  hundreds 
less  than  the  balance  due.  I  will  furnish  you  with  the  exact  numbers 
as  soon  as  received."  The  same  boat  that  conveyed  that  communication 
brought  another  written  subsequently,  but  dated  the  same  day,  as  fol- 
lows: "  I  have  declared  exchanged  the  51st  regiment  Indiana  volun- 
teers. Todxcgiment  Indiana  volunteers,  and  3d  regiment  Ohio  volun- 
teers. These  number  each  less  than  three  hundred  men,  and  compose 
a  part  of  Streight's  brigade.  I  will  add  to  the  above  declaration  the 
SOth  Illinois  volunteers,  and  fifty-eight  members  of  the  1st  Ten- 
nessee cavalry." 

The  enlisted  men  alone,  designated  in  either  one  of  the  communica- 
tions, exceeded  the  "balance"  due  to  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow.     The  excess 
in  both  communication  Avas  two  thousand    two  hundred  and  nil 
without  taking  into  account  **  the  captures  at  Mt.  Sterling  on  the  22  \ 
and  23d  of  March,  1863." 

You  will  observe  that  Lieut    Col.  Ludlow,  in  these  two  communica- 
tions, "did  not  furnish  me  with  any  list,  or  even  give  me  the  number 
of  men,  by  which  I  could  declare  equivalents  ;   nor  did  he  give  m< 
time  to  prepare  my  announcement."     I  quote  from  your  letter  of  the 
24th  of  September  to  mo. 

Not  only  was  that  the  case,  but  he  made  a  wholesale  exchange  of 
the  Mt.  Sterling  captures,  by  a  simple  reference  to  it  a  being  made 
"  on  the  22d  and  23d  day  of  March.  1863,"  w  ithoutany  designation  of 
corps,  division,  brigade,  regiment  or  company.  Further  than  that.  1 
have  never,  to  this  day,  been  furnished  with  a  list  of  tbose  cap 
at  Mt.  Sterling,  or  even  with  the  aggregate  number." 

Such,  then,  were  the  circumstances,  and  such  the  precedents,  under 
which  1  declared  the  exchanges  of  September  12,  1863.     I  have  pur- 

iy  gone  into  minute  and  faithful  detail   in  a  nee  of  tl: 

traordinary  character  of  your  letter  of  of  September.      You 

state  that  you  consider  my  course  to  be  a  del  each  of  good 

faith  on  the  part  of  the  authorities  under  whom  I  act.  In  a  bung 
sort  of  way  you  have  used  language  which  casts  an  i  ffensive  aspersion 
both  upon  myself  and  the  Government  J  represent.  If  there  ha 
been  subjects  of  very  grave  import  to  both  people  referred  to  in  other 
portions  of  your  communication,  I  would  have  treated  it  with  the  silent- 
contempt  it  deserved,  and  returned  it  to  you  without  comment.  For 
the  first  time  in  the  correspondence  of  the  agents  of  exchange  has  any 
such  discourtesy  occurred.      I   regret   it  very  much.      Heretofore    I 


9$ 

have  Lad  occasion  to  complain  of  the  action  of  your  Government,  but 
it  has  always  been  done  with  decorum.  I  have  never  written  a  word 
personally  offensive  to  the  Federal  agent  of  .exchange,  or  insulted  his 
Government  with  a  charge  of  "  deliberate  breach  of  good  faith."      It  is 

a  matter  of  very  little  moment  to  me  what  may  be  your  opinion  of 
"  my  course."  There  are  some  people  connected  with  this  war  who, 
either  from  ignorance  or  passion,  seem  to  have  no  clear  ideas  on  any 
subject.  The  opinion  of  such,  even  if  uttered  in  the  language  of 
courtesy,  is  but  of  little  avail,  but,  if  expressed  with  intemperance, 
■  >nly  "  exalts  their  folly."  There  has  been  no  breach  of  faith  on  the 
part  of  the  Confederate  States,  "-deliberate"  or  otherwise.  You  were 
importuned  to  agree  to  some  fair  principle  by  which  paroles  could  be 
adjusted  and  computed.  Aftef  patient  waiting — after  failure  on  your 
part  to  respond  affirmatively  or  negatively — the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment, through  its  agent  of  exchange,  did  what  was  demanded  by 
courtesy,  and  justified  both  by  former  practice  and  the  provisions  of 
the  cartel. 

I  now  proceed  to  notice  the  misstatements  of  your  letter.  I  will 
not  call  them  "  deliberate,"  although  you  had  the  means  of  correcting 
them  at  your  hand  ;  for  such  phraseology,  so  open  to  the  imputation 
of  discourtesy  and  coarseness,  finds  in  such  •communications  as  the 
present  only  the  precedent  of  your  example. 

1.  Your  computation  of  paroles  is  incorrect  on  both  sides.  As  to 
your  item  of  1,20.6  officers  and  14,865  men,  embraced  by  the  first  five 
ructions  of  my  exchange  notice,  I  have  no  exception  to  make.  Some 
of  our  Vicksburg  rolls  were  lost,  and  I  have  not  the  means  of  making 
an  accurate  computation  as  to  them. 

Your  second  item,  however,  of  72  officers  and  8,014  men,  embracing 
the  sixth  section  of  my  exchange  notice,  is  incorrect.  In  the  first 
place,  all  the  officers  on  both  sides,  who  have  been  delivered  at  City 
Point,  are  exchanged.  They  were  specially  exchanged.  Major  Mul- 
ford  knows  that  fact.  All  Confederate  soldiers  who  were  delivered  at 
City  Point  up  to  May  23,  1863,  including  said  date,  were  declared 
exchanged  by  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow,  while  the  Federal  troops  were  only 
exchanged  up  to  May  6,  1863.  The  number  of  Confederate  soldiers, 
reduced  to  privates,  delivered  at  City  Point  from  May  23  to  July  25, 
(the  date  named  in  my  notice;)  is  5,831,  instead  of  8,014.  The  rolls 
show  this  very  clearly.  Of  the  Federal  troops  on  parole,  you  say  there 
are  76  officers  and  f 9,083  men.  If  these  officers  are  those  delivered 
at  City  Point,  you  make  an  error  against  yourself.  They  have  been 
exchanged.  From  the  6th  of  May,  1863,  (the  time  of  the  last  ex- 
change of  Federal  troops.)  to  the  1st  of  September,  1863,  (the  time 
named  in  your  notice,)  I  have  delivered  at  City  Point  alone,  in  pri- 
vates, 18,610.  All  of  these  are  on  parole.  I  have  other  valid  paroles 
in  my  possession,  amounting  to  at  least  16,000  more.  Allowing, 
therefore,  that  your  Vicksburg  computation  is  correct,  you  owe  me, 
upon  the  last  notice  which  }ou  have  published,  more  than  7,000,  in- 
stead of  my  owing  you  10,024,  as  you  claim.  Many  of  the  16,000 
paroles  to  which'  I  have  referred,  have  been  acknowledged  by  Lieut. 


93 

Col.  Ludlow  in  Lis  correspondence.     So  much  as  to  yonr  computation, 
and  your  exchange  notice  based  upon  it. 

2.  You  say  I  failed  to  announce  to  you  "  the  sixth  section  of 
exchange  notice,  as  published  in  the  Richmond  Enquirer  of  the  10th 
instant,  which  covers  72  officers  and  8.014  enlisted  men."  This  is 
not  so.  On  the  1st  of  August  last  I  informed  you  in  writing  tl 
had  declared  exchanged  all  Confederate  soldiers  who  had  been  deliv- 
ered at  City  Point  up  to  July  20,  1863.  No  deliveries  were  made  at 
City  Point  between  duly  2(1  and  July  25,  and  therefore  one  announce- 
ment was  the  same  as  the  other.  I  did  not  inform  you  of  tueexcbaiij, 
of  the  City  Point  men  in  my  letter  of  the  1  Ith  September,  because  I 

iln  any  notified  you  on  the   1st  of   August. 

3.  You  Pay  1  did  not  furnish  you  with  any  list,  or  even  give  the 
numbt  r  o['  men,  by  which  you  could  declare  equivalents,  nor  did  1 
give  you  any  time  to  prepare  your  announcement.  You  were  fur- 
nished with  the  lists  of  all  paroled  men  delivered  at  City  Point,  num- 
bering uj>  to  September  1,  18.610  men.  As  to  other  paroles  held  by 
me,  you  failed  to  accept  or  decline  the  terms  upon  which  they  were  tc 
be  computed  and  adjusted,  and  therefore  it  was  useless  to  send  them. 
You  oad,  or  ought  to  have  had,  duplicates  of  many  of  them  in  your 
possession"  If  there  was  any  particular  capture  on  parole,  or  any 
special  class  of  paroled  men  whom  you  wished  to  declare  exchanged, 
you  had  only  to  announce  that  fact,  and  the  lists  would  be  furnished 
if  I  had  them  and  you  had  not.  With  what  propriety  could  I  send 
you  lists  which  I  believed  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  cartel,  but 
which  you  intimated  you  would  decline  to  acknowledge  ?  Moreover, 
according  to  my  interpretation  of  the  cartel,  that  instrument  very 
clearly  gives  the  right  to  you  to  select  what  Federal  officers  and  men 
shall  be  relieved  from  their  parole,  whenever  I  discharge  our  officers 
and  men  from  their  parole.  I  claim  the  same  right  when  you  dech.r 
an  exchange  of  your  paroled  men.  If  I  had  sent  you  lists  of  such  of 
your  officers  and  men  as  were  relieved  from  their  parole  by  my  declar- 
ation of  exchange,  I  would,  in  effect,  have  violated  that  provision  of 
the  cartel  which  gives  the  right  to  "  each  party  to  relieve  from  parole 
such  of  their  own  officers  and  men  as  the  party  may  choose."  It  was 
entirely  unnecessary  for  me  to  give  you  the  number  of  men  whom  my 
notice  declared  exchanged.  They  were  all  Vicksburg  captures  or 
City  Point  deliveries.  You  had  the  rolls  of  both.  You  had  in  your 
possession  as  much  information  as  1  could  communicate,  even  if  I  had 
held  the  Vicksburg  rolls,  which  I  did  not.  1  have  already  proved  t  i 
you  h\  the  record  that  the  former  Federal  agent,  when  he  declared  ex- 
changes, gave  neither  lists  nor  the  number  of  men.  There  is,  how- 
ever, a  more  recent  case.  You  yourself  have  just  declared  a  sweeping 
exchange.  You  have  not  furnished  me  v. ith  any  lists  or  designation 
of  corps,  division,  brigade,  regiment,  or  company,  notwithstanding 
the  clamor  you  have  raised  about  my  omission  in  those  particulars. 
Your  i  ejection  as  to  want  of  time  for  the  preparation  of  your  an- 
nouncement, is  a  small  one  at  best.  The  cartel  does  not  make  it 
incumbent  upon  me  to  give  you  time.  Your  predecessor  did  not  give 
it,  to  me;     The  correspondence,  however,  between  us,  before  the  12th 


04 

of  September,  was  of  such  a  nature  as  must  have  prevented  a  sur- 
prise. 

4.  I  did  not  make  any  such  agreement  with  your  predecessor,  Lieut. 
Col.  Ludlow,  as  you  state,  nor  did  I  ever  make  any  agreement  with 
any  one,  by  which  I  renounced  the  right  to  claim  the  paroles  given 
t  Gettysburg.  The  first  official  letter  which  I  ever  addressed  to  you 
was  in  relation  to  this  very  subject.  It  bears  date  August  1,  1883, 
and  is  as  follows  : 

"  Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

"  Agent  of  Exchange  : 

"Sir  :  In  the  Army  and  Navy  Official  Gazette  of  the  date  of  July 
Nth,  1863,  I  find  a  letter  from  Lieut.  Col.  Wm.  H.  Ludlow,  of  the 
date  of  July  7th,  IS63,  addressed  to  Col.  J.  C.  Kelton.  In  it  is  the 
following  paragraph,  to  wit : 

"  '  I  have  the  honor  also  to  state  that  since  the  22d  of  May  last,  it 
has  been  distinctly  understood  between  Mr.  Ould  and  myself,  that  all 
captures  must  be  reduced  to  possession,  and  that  all  paroles  are  to  be 
disregarded  unless  taken  under  the  special  arrangement  of  command- 
ing officers  of  armies  in  the  field,  as  prescribed  in  section  seven  of 
the  cartel.' 

"  If  Lieut  Col._Jjudlow  mean3  that  he  had  declared  to  me  that  such 
was  the  rule  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  United  States  in  relation  to 
captures  and  paroles,  to  go  into  eifect  from  and  after  May  23d,  1863, 
he  is  entirely  right.  If  he  means  that  I  at  any  time  consented  to 
adopt  or  acquiesce  in  any  such  rule,  he  is  entirely  wrong.  All  that 
passed  between  us  on  that  subject  is  in  writing.  The  correspondence 
will  interpret  itself. 

"  Respectfully,  your  ob't.  serv't., 

"Rob't.  Ould, 
"  Agent  of  Exchange" 

The  [general  order,  No.  JOG,  issued  at- Washington,  which  Lieut. 
Col.  Ludlow  communicated  to  me  on  the  23d  May,  1863,  in  its  131st 
paragraph  provides,  that  "  if  the  Government  does  not  approve  of  the 
parole,  the  paroled  officer  must  return  into  captivity  ;  and  should  the 
enemy  refuse  to  receive  him,  he  is  free  of  his  parole."  In  no  com- 
munication, in  no  interview  with  either  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  or  your- 
self, where  the  subject  was  under  consideration,  did  I  ever  fail  to  de- 
mand that,  if  your  Government  rejected  the  paroles,  the  parties  should 
return  into  captivity.  I  had  the  warrant  of  your  own  general  order 
for  that  demand,  but  pleaded  it  in  vain.  So  far  from  carrying  out  its 
own  general  order,  your  Government,  on  the  30th  June  last,  while 
the  order  was  in  force,  and  before  the  publication  sof  general  order, 
No.  207,  convened  a  court  of  enquiry,  and  required  the  court  to  give 
its  opinion  on  the  following  point,  to  wit:  whether  Major  Duane  and 
Captain  Michler,  captured  and  paroled  on  the  28th  June,  1863,  should 
be  placed  on  duty  without  exchange,  or  be  required  to  return  to  the 
enemy  as  prisoners  of  war.  The  general  order  required  the  latter, 
but  the  court  found  that  the  Government  was  free  to  place  those  offi- 


95 

cers  on  duty  without  exchange.  The  reason  given  by  the  court  was. 
not  that  the  Federal  agent  and  myself  had  agreed  to  regard  such  pa- 
roles as  invalid,  but  that  I  had  been  notifled  they  would  not  be  recog- 
nized. It  is  true  that  I  was  informed  that  certain  paroles  would  not 
be  considered  as  valid,  but  I  was  also  notified  at  the  same  time,  by  the 
same  hand,  and  through  the  same  instrument,  that  the  "  paroled 
officer"  must  return  into  captivity  if  his  parole  was  not  approved. 
In  other  words,  on  that  day  (May  23d,  1863,)  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow, 
with  little  or  no  comment,  delivered  to  me  general  order.  No.  100, 
as  the  rules  adopted  for  the  government  of  the  Federal  army.  I  never 
had  any  intimation  that  all  the  provisions  of  general  order,  No.  100, 
did  not  continue  in  force,  until  I  received,  on  the  8th  of  July,  1863, 
the  following  letter  from  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  : 

•«  Fort  Monroe,  July  7th,  1863. 

"  Sir  :  I  herewith  enclose  to  you  a  copy  of  general  order,  No.  207, 
which  contains  some  additional  provisions  to  those  mentioned  in  my 
communication  to  you  of  the  22d  May  last.  It  is  understood  that 
officers  of  the  United  States  and  Confederate  officers  have,  at  various 
times  and  places,  paroled  and  released  prisoners  of  war,  not  in  accor- 
dance with  the  cartel. 

"  The  Government  of  the  United  States  will  not  recognize,  and  will  not 
expect  the  Confederate  uthorities  to  recognize  such  unauthorized  pa- 
roles. Prisoners  released  on  parole  not  authorized  by  the  cartel,  after 
my  notice  to  you  of  the  22d  May,  will  not  be  regarded  as  prisoners 
of  war,  and  will  not  be  exchanged. 

"  Where  prisoners  of  war  have  been  released  without  the  delivery 

specified  in  the  cartel,  since  the  22d  of  May  last,  such  release  will  be 

regarded  as  unconditional,  and  the  prisoners  released  as   subject  to 

orders  without  exchange,  the  same  as  if  they  had  never  been  captured. 

'•  I  am,  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"Wm.   II.   Ludlow. 
"  Lieut.  Col.  and  Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 

i;  Hon.  Rob't.  Ould,  Agent,  fyc." 

The  "  notice  "  referred  to  in  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow's  leiter  was  the 
delivery  of  general  order,  No.  100,  with  its  131st  paragraph.  That 
paragraph  was  sot  aside  by  the  provisions  of  general  order,  No.  207, 
which  bears  date  July  3,  1863,  three  days  after  the  submission  of  the 
question  of  the  paroles  of  Duane  and  Michler  to  the  court  of  inquiry, 
two  days  after  its  finding,  and  several  days  after  our  captures  in  the 
Gettysburg  campaign.  On  the  7th  of  July,- 1863,  Lieut.  Col.  Lud- 
low substantially  informs  me  that  although  he  notified  me  on  the  22d 
of  May,  that  paragraph  131  of  general  order,  No.  100,  was  to  be 
•continued  in  foree ;  yet,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  in 
view  of  what  had  taken  place  in  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  said 
paragraph  was  not  to  be  considered  as  being  in  force  at  any  time  after 
the  22d  of  May,  and  general  order,  No.  207,  although  it  was  issued 
July  3,  1863,  should  be  construed  as  bearing  date  the  22d  of  May, 
preceding  ! 


9G 

It  will  be  observed  that  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow,  in  his  letter  to  me  of 
ihc  7th  of  July,  no  .where  saya  I  had  made  any  agreement  Avith  him, 
and  yet  it.  bears  the  same  date  as  bis  latter  to  Col.  Kelton.  It  is  ap- 
parent on  the  face  of  the  paper  that  he  is  conveying  to  me  certain 
information  for  the  first  time,  and  that  this  information  is  the  "  addi- 
tional provisions  "  of  general  order.  No.  207,  one  of  which  set  aside 
paragraph  131  of  general  order,  No.  UK).  The  court  of  enquiry,  in 
its  finding,  (see  Army  and  Navy  Official  Gazette,  July  14,  1863,) 
says  I  was  •'  hotijuid"  £c.  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow,  in  his  letter  to*Col. 
Kelton,  says  it  was  distinctly  "  understood "  between  Mr  Ould  and 
himself,  etc.  You,  in  your  letter  of  the  24th  of  September,  say  1 
made  an  ''-agreement"  with  your  predecessor.  -  The  notification  first 
rises  to  an  understanding,  and  is  then  elevated  into  an  agreement. 
What  further  promotion  it  will  receive  remains  to  be  seen. 

You  have  charged  a  deliberate  breach  of  good  faith  upon  the  part 
of  the  Confederate  States.  Let. me  bring  to  your  attention  an  inci- 
dent connected  with  this  matter  of  release  from  paroles.  On  March 
9,  1863,  General  Schenck,  of  immortal  memory,  issued  a  general 
order,  No/' 15,  requiring  all  officers  and  men  who  had  been  captured 
and  paroled  in  his  department,  and  particularly  in  the  Shenandoah 
Valley,  but  who  had  not  been  exchanged,  to  return  to  duty  on  penalty 
of  being  considered  deserters.  Your  general  order  in  force  at. that 
time — No.  49,  February  28,  1863— in  section  8,  provided  that  if  the 
engagement  which  a  prisoner  made  was  not  approved  by  his  Govern- 
ment, ho  was  bound  to  return  and  surrender  himself  as  a  prisoner  of 
war.  The  same  general  order,  No.  49,  in  the  same  section  8,  uses  these 
memorable  words,  which  I  now  set  up  against  your  present  extraordinary 
claims,  to  wit :  ';  His  own  Government  cannot,  at  the  same  time,  dis- 
own his  engagement  and  refuse  his  return  as  a  prisoner."  In  spite 
of  those  honest  words,  General  Schenck  issued  his  order,  which  to  this 
day  has  not  been  countermanded,  in  effect  directing  not  only  that  such 
as  were  captured  and  paroled  after  March  9th,  1863,  should 
return  to  duty,  but  also  all  who  had  been  captured  and  paroled, 
under  the  circumstances  named,  since  the  beginning  of  hosilities, 
on  penalty  of  being  considered  deserters.  At  that  very  time 
and  afterwards,  even  to  as  late  as  Stoneman's  raid,  the  former  agent 
of  exchange  was  charging  against  me,  and  receiving  credit  for  captures 
and  paroles  simlar  to  those  repudiated  by  Schenck's  order.  It  is  due  to 
Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  that  I  should  say  that,  when  thematter  was  brought 
to  his  attention,  he  declared  that  Schenck's  action  was  without  proper 
authority,  and  that  I  would  have  credit  for  such  as  reported  for  duty 
under  the  order.  Still  the  order  was  not  countermanded,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  has  been  followed  and  sustained  by  general  order,  No.  207. 
I  have  received  no  returns  of  such  as  have  reported  under  Schenck's 
order,  and  never  will. 

In  your  letter  of  the  24th  of  September,  and  others,  you  refer,  in 
connection  with  our  Gettysburg  captures,  to  "  paroles  not  in  accor- 
dance with  the  cartel."  The  phrase  figures  not  only  in  your  corres^ 
pondence,  but  in  the  findings  of  your  courts  and  in  some  of  your 


ft 

general  orders.     Let  me  here,  in  the  most  formal  manner,  assure  yoi 
that  the    Confederate  Government   considers  the   cartel  to  be  bindin 
and  imperative  to  the  fullest  extent  of  any    and  all  of  its  provisions 
I  have  never  asked  you  to  respect  a  parole  which  is  inconsistent  witii 
that  instrument.      You  say  the  Gettysburg  paroles  are  in  contra 
tiw,,  of  the  cartel.      1  et  me  give  ydu  some  of  them — all,  or  near!;, 
of  them  belong  to  one  or  the  other  class  : 

"  T,  the  subscriber,  a  prisoner  of  war,  captured  near  Gettysburg 
Pa.,  do  give  my  parole  of  honor  not  to  take  up  anus  against  the  Con- 
federate States,  «»r  to  do  any  military  duty  whatevw,  or  to  give  ani 
information  that  may  be  prejudicial  to  the  interest  of  the  same,  until 
regularly  exchanged.  In  the  event  this  parole  is  not  recognized  by 
the  Federal  authorities,  I  give  my  parole  of  honor  to  report  to  Rich 
mond,  Va.,  as  a  prisoner  of  war  within  thirty  days. 

"  John  E.  Parsons, 
"  1st  Lieut,  and  Adft.  1 49  th  Pa.  Vols" 

ber,  a  prisoner  of  war,  captured  near  Gettysburg. 
Pa.,  do  give  my  parole  of  honor  not  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Con- 
fedsrate  States,  or  to  do  any  military  duty  whatever,  or  to  giye  an/ 
information  that  may  be  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  same,  until 
regularly  exchanged.  This  parole  is  unconditional,  and  extended  t 
a  wounded  officer  for  the  sake  of  humanity,  to  save  a  painful  and  te 
dious  iourney  to  the  i 

''Roy  Stone,  Col.  149$  P.    17' 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  of  the  company  and  regiment  opposite  our 

names,  do  solemnly   sweat  that  we  will  not  take  up  arms  against  tl.  v 
Confederate  States  o:  America  until   i  ,    exchanged  in  a 

with  (artel,  even  if  required  to  du  so  by  our  Governm, 

"  The  following  named  prisoners,  captured   near   Gettysburg, 
are  paroled  on  the  following  conditions,  namely,  not  to  take  up  a 
against  the    Confederate  States,  or  to  do  any  military  duty  what 
or  to  give  any  information  that  may  be  prejudicial  to  the  same,  ttht  I 
regularly  exchanged;   this   parole  is  unconditional,  and  if  not  r< 
nized  by  the  authorities  of  the  United  States  Government,  all  ph 
themselves  to  repair  to  Itichmond,  as  prisoners  of  war,  at  the  expii 
tion  of  twenty  days  from  this  date." 

Does  the  cartel  contemplate  that  these  officers  and  men  should 
returned  to  duty  without  exchange  ?     It  no  where  say6  so  upon  it- 
When  we  were  without  any  cartel,  all  such  paroles,  and,  in  fact,  all  i 
tary  paroles,  were  respected.     The  very  first  act  of  the  og<  ata  i 
change  was  to  adjust  mutual  accounts  as  to  the  officers  am!  men  wh- 
been  captured  and  paroled  before  the  oartel   •  ed.     If  it  had  be<  n 

intended  by  the  cartel  to  repudiate  such  paroles  as    • 
tysburg,  or  upon  any  battle  field,  a  provision   to   that  effect,  in 
tinct  terms,  would  have  been  incorporated  in  it.     That  instrument  *    • 
intended  to  apply  to  "all  prisoners  of   azt  held  by  aithcr  party  " —  ,. 
such  as'   were  in    military  depots   Or  |    isons,  to  such    a-  d  r  • 

moved   i'rem  the  battle    field   or  place  -  'are,  and   reduced    in 


98 

actual  possession.  It  left  the  force  and  effect  of  military  paroles,  and 
tbe  respect  which  should  be  paid  to  their.,  to  be  determined  by  the 
usages  of  civilized  nations  of  modern  times.  It  certainly  did  not 
purpose  to  prevent  a  wounded  officer  or  man  from  entering  into  a  stip- 
ulation not  to  take  up  arms  until  exchanged,  as  the  condition  of  his 
release,  when  his  life  would  be  at  the  serious  risk  of  forfeit  if  be  did 
cot  make  the  contract.  Nor  does  it  anywhere  deny  the  right  of  any 
ier,  wounded  or  not,  to  bind  his  Government,  by  his  military  obli- 
gation,  when  he  is  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  latter  part  of 
article  seven  does  not  really  controvert  this  view.  That  clause  intended 
Lve  "  tbe  commanders  of  two  opposing  armies'5  the  power  of  de- 
claring an  exchange  of  prisoners,  with  the  further  right  of  paroling 
whatever  surplus  there  might  be  after  the  exchange  was  arranged. 
V  ithout  such  clause,  the  two  commanders  would  have  no  right  to  de- 
rm exchange.  It  was,  therefore,  inserted.  Until  recently,  no- 
1  •  ever  pretended  that  the  cartel  forbid  the  giving  and  receiving  of 
b  'inary  military  paroles.  Tbe  uniform  practice  under  the  cartel  for 
r  rly  a  year  sanctioned  them.  Whatever,  however,  may  be  the  de- 
termination as  to  this  matter,  it  is  entirely  clear  that  at  the  time 
t:  3  |Gettysburg  paroles  were  given,  your  own  military  law^  required 
t:  at  if  the  parole  was  not  approved  the  party  should  return  to  our 
111  es.  Many  of  the  paroles  indicate  on  their  face  that  the  persons 
giving  them  were  aware  of  that  fact.  I  have,  therefore,  demanded 
that  if  you  reject  these  parole?,  the  parties  who  gave  them  should  be 
returned  to  u.3.  The  question  between  us  is  not  so  much  whether  you 
will  regard  these  paroles  as  valid,  as  whether  you  will  comply  with  a 
r:;le  of  your  own  making,  and  which  was  advertised  to  us  as  being 
t\  :  controlling  law  of  the  case. 

I  know  not  what  you  mean  by  your  reference,  on  your  third  page, 
to  article  four,  of  the  cartel.  All  the  officers  and  men  whom  I  declared 
•?>  -hanged,  were  "  actually  restored  to  our  lines."  All  the  officers 
an  3  men  whom  I  requested  you  to  select  as  equivalents  for  them  in 
t)   •  exchange.  "  had  been  restored  to  your  lines." 

The  parties  whom  I  have  declared  exchanged,  have  not  been  "  re- 
ti  ined  to  their  paroles,  as  requested  by  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow."  I  do 
i.  t  understand  by  what  sort  of  reading  of  the  exchange  notice  of  the 
of  September  you  make  out  that  only  '•'  two  ^officers  (Generals 
Stevenson,  and  Bowen) "  were  exchanged.  My  letters  of  July  13, 
September  I  :,  and  September  26,  will  inform  you  of  all  the  "Vicks- 
\ org  prisoners,  officers  and  men,  whom  I  have  declared  exchanged. 

Your  objection  to  the  declaration  of  the  exchange  of  the  general 
officers  paroled  at  Vickfchurg,  because  there  were  no  equivalents  of  the 
&--r>e  grade*,  is  exploded  by  the  provision  of  the  cartel  which  declares 
that  "  men  and  officers  of  lower  grades  may  be  exchanged  for  officers 
of  a  higher  grade." 

I  have,  iiiufr  answeicd  all  the  iten  3  of  your  letter  of  the  24th  Sept. 
I  regret  the  extreme  length  of  the  reply.  I  have,  however,  confined 
i: -;-e)f  to  the  matter  of  that  letter,  and  to  such  subjects  as  were  di- 
rectly connected  with  its  contents.  In  a  future  communication  I  will 
ca!J  to  your  attention  the  instances  of  the  violation  of  the  cartel  by 


99 

the  Federal  authorities.  Notwithstanding  the  expression  of  their 
sudden  regard  for  that  instrument,  I  will  show  they  have  continued 
those  violations  from  its  date  to  the  present  moment. 

I  now  inform  you,  in  view  of  the  recent  declaration  of  exchange 
made  by  you,  coupled  with  your  failure  either  to  agree  to  or  decline 
the  proposition  made  to  you  on  the  2 4th.  of  August  last,  in  rela- 
tion to  paroles,  that  the  Confederate  authorities  will  consider  them- 
selves entirely  at  liberty  to  pursue  any  course  as  to  e:vc.  or  pa» 
roles  which  they  may  deem  right  and  proper  under  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case.  At  the  same  time,  I  am  directed  to  e ■■  • 
entire  willingness  to  adopt  any  fair,  just  and  reciprocal  rule  in  rela- 
tion to  those  subjects,  without  any  delay. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

ROBT.  OULD, 

Agent  of    J' 


[No.  28.] 
BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Headquarters  Dep't  of  Va.,  7th  Aumv  Corps,  ) 
For>   Monro* ,    J>..  Sept.  14,  1863.       S 

Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  of  Exchange  : 

Sir  :  In  your  letter  of  Sep'.   7th,   declining  to  exchange   General 
Graham  for  Gener.il  Smith,  you    state  ''that   I   appear    I  boring 

under  some  strange  mistake;  that  General  Smith  has  already  been 
exchanged,  and,  that  I  have  received  the  equivalent.''  On  i  ily  14th, 
1863,  my  predecessor,  Lieut!  Col.  Ludlow,  wrote  to  ^u,  positively 
declining  to  unite  with  you  in  your  1  iclaration  of  exchange  of  July 
13th,  and  requesting  you  to  notify  the  officers  therein  n.nned,  that 
their  exchange  would  not  be  recognized  by  the  authorities  of  the 
United  States.  May  T  ask,  who  w;is  the  "equivalent"  delivered  for 
General  Smith?  I  now  repeat  to  you  the  notification  of  L 
Ludlow,  and  state  that  the  authorities  of  the  United  States  v  ill  not 
recognize  the  exchange  of  the  above  officers  until  united  in  by  me. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A    MEREDITH, 
Brig.    Gen.  and  Corfffw  Fxrfrr 


1U0 

[No.  2!).] 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

C.  S.  A.,  War  Department,  } 

Richmond,  Va.t  Sept.  14.  186"..  <, 
Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Mkuedith, 

Agent  of  Exchange  : 

Sir  :  :::  vour  letter  of  the  1 4th  instant,  you  inquire  "who  was  the 
equivalent  delivered  for  General  Smith.''  If  you  Will  refer  to 
my  letters  of  the  13th  and  17th  of  July,  you  will  find  out  who  wa*s 
the  ij'iivalent.  It  had  been  our  practice,  whenever  a  special 
exchange' v.  as  declared  by  one  party,  to  allow  the  other  to  select  the 
equivalent  from  prisoners  already  paroied  or  delivered.  I  pursued 
that  course  in  the  case  of  the  Vicksburg  general  officers.  The  equiv- 
alent could  be  found  in  officers  and  men  paroled  at  Fredericksburg, 
in  pursuance  of  an  agreement  between  Generals  Lee  and  Hooker. 
If  that  was  not  satisfactory,  the  equivalent  could  easily  be  found  in 
the  ten  thousand  prisoners  whom  I  had  released  from  captivity  and 
sent  to  City  Point.  In  that  ten  thousand  there  was  an  ex^oss  of  more 
than  six  thousand,  at  least,  over  the  number  you  had  delivered  at  the 
same  place  since  the  last  general  declaration  of  exchange.  My  letter 
of  the  17th  of  July  contains  a  fair  statement,  not  only  of  the  practice 
of  the  gents  of  exchange,  but  of  the  grounds  of  my  authority  to 
declare  the  exchange  of  the  Vicksburg  general  officers,  including 
Gen.  M.  L.  Smith.  The  effort  to  cast  discredit  upon  the  regular  and 
honorable  exchange  of  thelle  officers,  is,  to  use  a  phrase  of  your  own, 
m>one  of  jour  letters  of  the  14th  instant,  "simply  ridiculous." 
Respectfully,  vour  obedient  servant. 

ROBERT  OULD, 

Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  #().] 
EXCHANGE  NOTICE  No.  ?. 

Richmond,  Oct.   16th,  1863. 

The  following  Confederate  officers  and  men  are  hereby  declared 
(luly  exchanged : 

•1.  MY  officers  and  men  captured  and  paroled  at  any  time  previous 
to  the  urst  of  September,  1863.  This  section,  however,  is  nor 
intended  to  include.any  officers  or  men  captured  at  Vicksburg,  July 
4th,  I8b3,  except  such  as  were  declared  exchanged  by  exchange 
notice  No.  6,  Sept.  12th,  1863,  or  are  specifically  named  in  this 
notice.     But  it  does  embrace  all  deliveries  made   at   City*  Point  or 


101 

other  place  before  Sept.  1st,  1863,  and  with  the  limitation  above- 
named,  all  captures  at  Port  Hudson  or  any  other  place,  whore  the 
parties  were  released  on  parole. 

2.  The  staff  of  Generals  Pemberton,  Stevenson,  Bowen,  Moore, 
Barton,  S.  I>.  Leo,  Oummings,  Harris,  and  Baldwin,  and  of  Colonels 
Reynolds,  Oockrell,  and  Dockerey,  the  officers  and  men  belonging  to 
the  engineer  corps  and  sappers  and  miners,  and  the  fourth  and  forty- 
sixth  Mississippi  regiments,  all  captured  at  Yicksburg.  July  4th. 
1863. 

3.  The  general  officers  captured  at  Vieksburg,  July  4th,  1863, 
were  declared  exchange!  July  13th,  18 

ROBERT   OULD, 

Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  31.] 
\l.  OTXLD  To  BRIG.  GKNr.  MEREDITH. 

Richmond,  Oct.  16th,  1363. 
Brig.  Gren.    S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchmze  : 
Sir:   I  herewith  cnelose  to  you  a  declaration  of  exchange,  wh. 
shall  publish  in  a  day  or  two.     You  will  perceive  it  is  based  upon  the 
declaration   uf  exchaugc   communicated   to  me  in  your   letter  of  the 
24th  of  September  last.      In  my  notice  I  have   followed  your  pi, 
ology.      I  would  have  preferred  another   form  of  declaration  more  in 
accordance  with  the  circumstances  of  the  ease.      Inasmuch,  however, 
as  my  declaration  to  a  considerable   extent   h    retaliatory  of  you 
have  deemed  it  more  appropriate  to  follow  your  own  form  of  c::nres- 
8i<  n 

I  li:  .lined  from  d<  QgeAhe  large  residue  of 

burg  capture.  The  only  addition  I  have  made  to  the  notifica- 
tiwts  already  given  you  as  far  as  that  capture  is  concerned,  is  Ihe 
fourth  and  forty- sixth  aents.      According  I  ocjin- 

are   considerably  in  debl  upon  your  exch 

notice,  even  if  1  take,  into  consideration  only  such  paroles  as  those  to 
which  no* objection  has  been  made.     I  have  adopted  the  principl 
your  general  orders  in  the  computation   of  the  paroles  in  in 
Bion,  and  will  continue  to  do  so.  until  some   other  agreement  i>  made 
between  us.     1    r  myself  the  right   to  make  furthe  '   I  clara- 

tions  of  exchange  from  time   to  ti;  n  my 

office,  until  i  have  d<v<-iare  1  exchanged  a  number  of  Confederate  sol- 
diers equal  to  that  of  Federal  troops  declared  exchanged  by  .•  »ur  last 
notice.     At  the  same  time,  1   expree  ijlingness 

any  fair,  just,  and  reciprocal  rule  of  (imputation  and  apply 
both  to  bhe  past  and  the  future. 

pectfully,  your  ol  »nt, 

ROBERT   OULD, 

nt  of  Exchcn 


102 

[No,  32.] 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Head  Quarters,  Depart.memt  of  Va.  and  N   C.       ) 
Fort  Monroe,  Oct.  17,  1862.  j 
lion.  Robt.  Oui.n, 

Agent  of  Exchange,  Richmond,  Va  : 

Sir  :  On  the  22d  Bay  of  May,  1863,  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow,  then  agent 
of  exchange  for  the  United  States,  enclosed  you  copies  of  general 
orders,  No.  49  and  No.  100,  of  War  Department,  announcing  regu- 
lations and  instructions  for  the  government  of  United  State  i  forces  in 
the  6eld,  in  the  matter  of  paroles,  stating  that  these  orders  and  the 
cartel  are  to  govern  our  forces;  when  the  cartel  conflicts  with  the 
orders  they  must  be  :-et  aside.  The  cartel  requires  that  prisoners  of 
war  shall  he  delivered  at  certain  named  places,  and  if  they  are  not  so 
delivered,  the  paroles  cannot  be  valid.  la  consequence  of  the  usage 
which  h  1 1  governed  both  parties  up  to  that  time,  instructions  were  sub- 
sequently issued  that  paroles  given  before  the  22d  of  May  should  be 
considered  valid,  though  deliveries  had  not  been  made  as  required  by 
Che  .cartel.  In  order  to  the  putting  in  force  these  instructions,  it  wag 
not  necessary  to  ask  your  corisent.  We  were  only  bound  to-  notify 
you  that  from  that  time  the  cartel  would  1  e  ridgidly  adhered  to  by  us, 
and  the  same  course  would  he  exacted  of  the  Confederate   authorities. 

If  you  wish  paroles  recognized  when  the  parties  were  not  delivered 
at  the  places  named  in  the  cartel,  you  "ask  that  paroles  not  in  con- 
formity with  the  stipulations  of  the  cartel  should  be  regarded  as  valid." 

I  will  now  proceed  to  show  that  your  declaration  of  September  12th 
was  not  in  accordance  with  the  parte!.  Your  reference  to  acts  of 
Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  doe#not  sustain  you;  for,  according  to  your  own 
letter,  Lieut.  Col.  L.  was  declaring  an  exchange  to  cover  a  "balance 
due"  on  deelarations  previously  made  by  you.  The  troops  thus  de- 
clared exchanged  by  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  are  as  folloxvs: 

51st  Reg't  Ind.  Vol.  -  -             -             371 

75th     "       •  -  '  ,-              268 

'«   Ohio      "  -  311 

nn,  Cavalry,  -  58 


1,01)8 
ted  at  Mt.  Sterling,  ...  463 


1,471 


You  state  that  the  "excess,"  without  taking  into  account  the  Mount 
Sterling  captures,  was  2,290,  whereas  the  whole  number,  including 
said  captures,  amount  only  to*  1,47  I. 

If,  in  making  up  this  balance,  Lieutencnt  Colonel  Ludlow  failed  to 
give  rolls  and  numbers,  it  does  not  justify  you  in  anticipating  a  decla 


103 

ration  by  me,  without  famishing  me  either  rolls  or  numbers, 
me  time  to  consult  the  records  to  make  them  up  for  myself.      V\ 
the  paroling  is  properly  done,  b:>th  parties  have  rolls,  and  then   I 
can  be  little  difficulty  in  arranging  an  exchange,  to  be  simultaneously 
declared.     You  state  that  when  the  Federal  troops  were  declared  ex- 
changed to  the  6th  of  May,  the  Confederates  were  declared  exchai       I 
to  the  22d  of  May,  inclusive •    I  have   nothing  to  show  that  the  i  c- 
es  on  both  sides  were  not  alike.     The  Confederate 
>d  between  the  two  dates  amount  to   5,083   privates,  and,    if  we 
have  already  received  equivalents  for  them,  they  should  be  dedu       1 
from  my  form.  ■  ion.      Without  counting  those,   tbe  number 

covered  by  your  declaratio  Member  12,  and  the  Bub  equent  e< 

planatory  declaration  of  September  26,  amounts  to  29-,45!. 
The  number  of  Federal  troops  on  parole  to  September   1st,  and 

to  23,91  i.  included  are  those 

paroled   at   Getty  I  id,  a! 

Point. 

These  number-  differ  from  those  given  to  you  before,  because,  in 
making ^up  that  calculation,  nil  jmlisted  me«  were  counted  aliko> 
whereas  non-c  officers  should  h  .  i    counted   aa       6 

privates. 

Giving  you,  then,  credit  for  the  .">,083  enli  i,  which  j 

were  delivered  at  City  Point  between  the  Gth  and  the  53d  of 

red  exchanged  by  Colonel  Ludlow,  you  are  now  irdebtS 

enlisted  men. 

state  that  you  have  in  your  possession  vali 
to  16,<)0i)  men.     For  all  the  prisoners  that  we  claim  •   s 

at  the  pi  aed  in  I  i 

and  if  \  ou 
the  16,001)  men  you  speak  fill,  of  course,   be  lecogniz 

valid,  and  you  will  be  credited  with  them. 

t fully,  your  o  int, » 

Rrig.  Gen.  and  Com.  for  Exch. 


[No.  33.] 
MR.  0  :  I  DITR 

ITU, 

:    In  reply  to  your  communication  of  the  17th   instant.  I 
that  general  ordei  nd  100  were  to  meat  the 

time.      I  received   general  order.-.  No.  49   long  befo 
delivered  to  me.     Their  respective  date-  will  anew  that  to  be  the 


104 

I  [y   own  personal   recollection   is   that   general    orders.  No.   IQI 
:.ever  communicated  in  a  letter.     It  is  my  habit  faithfully  to  keep  all 
letters  written  by  the  Federal  Agent  of  Exchange.      A  careful  search 

<  f  the  records  of  ray  office  does  not  disclose  any  letter  from  Lieut. 
Col.  Ludlow  communicating  general  orders.  No.  100.  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Ludlow  met  me  at  City  Point  on  the  23d  of  M  '■.  and 
be  then  and  there  delivered  to  da  orders,  i  bating 
I  tat  the  principles  therein  announced  would,  in  the  future,  control  the 

ations  of  the  forces  of  the  United  States.     No  written  communis 

ition  accompanied  it.     If  any  one  was  ever,  written  to  accompany  it. 

i  never  received  it.      You  are  in  error,  therefore,  when  you  say  that 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Ludlow,  on  the  22d  May,  1863,  enclosed   copies 

of  general  orders.  No.  49  and  No.  100,  announcing  regulations  and 

actions  for  the  government  of  the  United   States    forces   in  the 

.  in  the  natter  of  paroles,  Btating  that  these  orders  and  the  cartel 
>  ere  to  govern  your  forces,  and  that  when  the  cartel  conflicted  with 
the  orders,  they  were  to  be  set  aside.  Independent  of  the  facts  of  the 
ase,  I  am  justified  in  saying  that  any  such  communication  would 
1  ive  been  very  extraordinary.  It  would  not  only  have  admitted  that 
Lie  general  ^orders  were  in   violation  of  the   cartel,  but  would  have 

red  that  the  later  general  order,  which,  on  its  face,  was  announced 
to  be  the  controlling  law,  should  be  set  aside  by  the  provisions  con- 
tained in  an.  earlier  paper. 

I  again  assert  that  the  only  notification  I  ever  received  as  to  y>  ur 
successiv<  ?  purpose  in   the   matter   of  paroles,   w as | from 

your  own   general  orders,  according  to  their  respective  dates,  dcliv- 

<  red  to  me  without  any  further  comment  than  I  have  already  commu- 
i.  icated  to  you. 

You  say  my  "reference to  the  acts  of  Lieutenant  ColoneJ  Ludlow" 
d-jes  not  sustain   me.       Yrou  further  say«"the  thus  declared 

exchanged  by  lieutenant  Colonel  Ludlow  are  as  follows-/' 

5 1st  Regiment  Indiana  Volunteers ,     -         -         -         -         -  71 

73th         "               "                  " 268 

3d          "           Ohio               "           311 

Tennessee  -'.  _..___ 


1,008 
Paroled  at  Mtfunt' Sterling,         ------ 


1,471 

Permit  me  to  say  that  I  read  this  paragraph  of  your  letter  with 
very  great  surprise.  In  my  letter  of  the  2d  instant,  which  you  were 
iting,  I  gave,  at  length,  the  communication  of  Lieutenant  Colo- 
]  .el  Ludlow,  and  by  reference  to  it,  you  will. find  that  not  only  are  the 
j  egiments  which  you  have  named  therein  mentioned,  but  also  the 
i  lolly  Springs  capture,  numbering  1 ,383  privates,  the  91st  Illinois 
i  egiment,  numbering  -  6  40  privates,  the  officers  and  men  of  the 
an'eda,  numbering  (>d  privates,  and  the  80th  regiment  Illinois  vol- 
unteer^ numbering  400   privates.     Not   only   is   that   the  case,   but 


}05 

your  enumeration  of  1,471  privates  in  the  specified  regiments  is 
incorrect.  The  true  aggegate  is  1 ,670  privates.  You  misname  one 
of  the  regiments  also.  The  regiment  declared  exchanged  was  not  the 
75th  Indiana,  but  the  73d. 

In  an  interview    -with   me  at  City   Point,  in  the  presence   of  Major 
Mulford,  you  admitted  that  all  Confederate  ofiicers*nd  Boldiers  deliv- 
ered   at  City    Point    before   the   i!.id   of  May,    1863.   were   declared 
exchanged,  while  the   Federal   soldiers   were  only  declared   exchai 
up  to  May  6th,  1863,      \  et,  in  your  letter  wrii;  .  quent  to  this 

admission,  you  say  you  "  have  nothing   to   show   that   exchang 
both  sides  were  not  alike."     Since  your  letter  of  the  llt.h,  in  our  last 
interview  you  made  the  same  admission.      If  the  fact  I     '  any 

time,  I  stand  pnjpared  to  prove  it. 

As  to  your  computation  based   upon  my  declaration 
T  refer  you  to  my  letter  of  the   2d  of  October.    1863.     K\-  '      state- 
ment therein  contained   i  •  strictly  and   accurately   correct.      I  again 
assert  what  I  am  ready  to  prove,  that  J  have  in   my  possession   more 
valid  paroles  of  your  office  en  than  would  be  an  equivalent  for 

the  exchauges  I  have  declared  up  to  this  date. 

Respectfully,  yoi  Uent  servant. 

ROBERT  OULD, 
Ag&U  /  Exchange. 


[No.  34.J 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Richmond,  Oct.  20,  1863. 
Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 
./-'/■/  <>f  Exchen 

Sir  :  More  than  a  month  ago  I  asked  your  acquiescence  in  a  pro- 
position, that  all  officers  and  soldiers  on  both  sides  should  be  rel 
in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  cartel.  In  order  to  obviate 
the  difficulties  between  us,  I  suggested  that  all  officers  and  men  on 
aid  be  released,  unless  they  were  subject  to  charges .  in 
which  event,  the  opposite  Government  should  have  the  righj  of  holding 
one  or  more  hi  if  the  retention  was  not  justified.      You  stated 

to  me,  in  conversation,  that  this  proposition  wa  f:yi\  and  that 

you  woald  ask  the  consent  of  your  Government  to  it.  As  u3ual,  you 
have  as  yet  made  no  response.  I  tell  you  frankly,  I  do  not  expect 
any.  Perhaps  you  may  disappoint m#,  and  tell  me  that  you  rej 
accept  the  proposition.  I  write  this  letter  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
lur  recollection  my  proposition,  and  of  dissipating  th<  idea  that 
been  purposely  encouraged  by  your  pubri  .  that 

the  Confederate  Government  efused  or  objected  lea 

exchanges. 


106 

i 
To  order  to  avoid  any  mistake  in  that  direction,  I  now  propose  that 
all  officers  and  men  on   both  sides  be  released  in   conformity  with  the 
provi  :'  the  cartel,  the  excess  on  one  side  or  the  other  to  be  on 

parole.      Will  )ou  accept  this  ?     I  have  no  expectation  of  an  answer, 
"but  perhaps  you  m;iy  give  one.     If  it  does  come,  I  hope  it   will  be, 
■ 

Cully,  your  obedient  servant. 

ROBERT   OULD, 
rent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  35.] 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Richmond,  Oct.  27th,  1363. 
Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange: 

Sir:  I  enclose,  to  you  a  memorandum  of  the  paroles  to  which  I 
have  referred  in  several  recent  communications  Moat  of  these 
paroles,  you  will  observe,  are  antecedent  to  May  23d,  1S63.  :  The 
reascn  why  these  paroles  have  not  been  heretofore  discharged,  is  that 
up  to' July,  1863,  we  had  the  advantage  of  prisoners  and  paroles. 
Not  one  of  these  paroles  is  covered  by  any  declaration  of  exchange, 
except  the  one  lately  made  by  you.  For  no  one  of  them  have  I 
receive!  any  equivalent.  All  of  them  since  the  date  r»f 
orders.  No.   2U7,   were  given  in   pursuanc  isi.noc   agreement 

•n  the  commanders  of  two    ■  .  mies.      I  have  many  other 

paroles  in  uiy  pofcsiefcsiun,  Lui  i  nave  only  -presented  those  which  are 
within  the  terms  of  your  general  orders,  according  to  their  respective 
dates. 

I  understand  there  are  other  paroles  coming  within  the  same  gene- 
ral orders,  which  were  given  by  your  officers  and  men  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Mississippi  river.  They  have  not  as  yet  reaehed  me. 
When  they  do,  and  when  I  show  they  are  within  the  scope  of  your 
general  orders,  I  will  claim  them — otherwise  I  will  discard  them. 

I  have  also  received  other  informal  paroles,  which  I  have  sent  back 
for  correction,     ^hese  are  also  within  the  provisions  of  your  general 
orders.     When  they  arc  returned,  I  will  claim  them  also. 
•     Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  OULD, 
Agent  of  Exchange. 


1(17 

< 

[No.  36.] 
BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MB.  OULD. 

OpFtcE  Commissioner  for  Exchange.       ) 
For;,    rs  1/     •  ■  .  Fa.,  Oct.  29,  1863.  ) 
Hon.  Rour.KT  Oulb, 

dgent  of  Exchange,  Richmond,  Va.  : 

Sir:  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  communicati  m  of  the  2(>th  instant. 
the  tenor  of  which  induces  me  to  make  some  explanatory  statements 
of  Pacts,  with  which,  it  would  seem,  you  need  to  be  reminded. 

The  system  of  exchanges,  of  prisoners   of  war,  determined  in   the 
existing  cartel,  was  first  interrupted  by  the  declared  purpose  of  the 
Confederate  Government  to  make  certain  distinctions  in  the  I 
of  a.  particular  class  of  troops,  officers  and  men,  in  violation  of  the 
provisions  of  the  cartel.     This  appears  to   have   been   the   first  step 
towards  the  irregularities  which  have  culminated  in  your  unequr 
declaration,  reported  by  me   to   my  government  on  the  8ih   i  n  -  tint. 
that  "you  will  proceed  to  declare  exchanges  whenever  you  Conscien- 
tiously feel  that  you  have  the  right  to  do  so.  for  the  purpose  of 
ting  men  into  the  fiel 

There  c  »  objections  to  your  acting  conscientious! 

given  case,  so  long  as  your  conscience  is  enlightened  and  guided  by 

■  laws  of  war  which    require   obedience  between   bellig 
solemn  agreements,  entered  into  by  authorized  commissione  - 

!"  their  respective  ors.     But,  if  you  mean   by  the 

expression,  **your  conscientii  I     ■  of  right,"  to  subs<;- 

■  of  right  for  the  requirement*  of  an  existing  .  1  can  by  no 
means  concede  to   you  that  right;   and  if                  not    mean  ll 
cannot  understand  what   yon  I 

proceed ii  ■ems  thai 

a  -'dull  Confederate  officers  and  soldierson  parole 
within  what  you  claim    as  your  lines,  up  to  a  very  recent  date,  with 
out  having  any  proper  right  so  to  do,  either  under  the  cartel  of  un  lei 
the  I  iws  of  war. 

The   history   of  this  matter,  :is    1   understand   it.  is   briefly   this: 
While  my  predecessor;  on  duty  at  this   place,  n 
of  th  •  uow  committed   to  me,  you  at  one  tiro 

tion  of  exchange,  embracing  no  great  number  of  prisoners  of 
not  in  citcordance  with  the  requirements  of  the  cart<  1,  and  yon  in 
Col    Ludlow,  my  predecessor,  to   make  a  <   ■ 
equivalents.     Such  a  declaration  was  made  by  Col.   Ludlow,  doul 

»ating  the  magnitude  of  the  evil  which  appi  is  the 

result,  of  that  departure  from  the  cartel,  first  inaugurated  by  yourself 

equently  to  my  coming  on  duty  here,  tin  events  of  the  war  I 
up  m   your  hands  a  large  body   of  paroled   officers   and   n 
3(1,00(1,)  captured  by  General  Grant  at  \  nd  not  lo 

ward-  some  6, Oi H?  or  more  captured  by  General  1  I  Port  11  i 

Suddenly,   and  without  any  proper  eonfi  iding 


108 

with  me,  and  but  a  few  days  prior  to  the  important  events  at  Chicka- 
fflauga,  as  if  for  the  express  purpose  of  increasing  the  force  of  General 
Bragg  against  General  Rosencrans,  you  gave  me  notice  that,  on  the 
next  day  after  the  date  of  that  notie  •.  you  would  declare  exchanged  a 
large  portion  of  the  troops  which  had   been  captured  by  Gen'l  Grant. 

V\  }\en  your  declaration  was  made,  it  covered  an  indeterminate  num- 
ber of  troops,  designated  by  commands,  brigades,  divisions  and  corps, 
no  definite  number  either  of  officers  or  men  being  designated.  Up  to 
that  time,  you  had  delivered  at  City  Point  a  certain  number  of  pris- 
oners of  war,  for  which  you  had  receipts,  by  which  you  must  have 
known  the  number  you  might  claim  the  right  to  discharge  from  their 
parole.  You  did  not  think  proper  to  limit  yourself  to  this  number, 
nor.  in  any  proper  manner  did  you  refer  to  it,  but  made  your  decla- 
ration of  exchange  in  such  indefinite  terms  as  made  it  next  to  certain 
that  you  "did  not  intend  to  be  governed  by  the  cartel. 

On  referring  to  the  data  furnished  by  the  reports  of  General  Grant, 
and  now  in  the  hands  of  the  Commissary  General  of  prison- 
Washington,  it  was  ascertained  that  you  had  discharged  from  parole, 
by  your  declaration,  a  very  considerable  number  of  your  men  over 
and  above  any  claim  you  might  pretend  to,  founded  on  receipts  for 
prisoners  of  war  delivered  from  the  South  according  to  the  cartel. 

Without  referring  to.  fractions,  it  appeared,  from  the  best  data  in 
our  hands,  that  you  had  discharged  three  for  two,  or  one-third  more 
than  you  were  entitled  to. 

You  suggested  that  I  should  make  a  corresponding  declaration  of 
exchange,  when,  as  I  suppose,  you  must  have  known  you  had  not 
delivered  to  me,  nor  had  you  valid  paroles  of  our  men  sufficient  to 
cover  the  number  declared  exchanged  by  yourself;  and.  when  I  pro- 
ceeded to  make  the' declaration  extending  to  those  men  you  had 
delivered,  and  stated  to  you  my  objection  to  your  proceedings,  you 
insisted  that  you  had  valid  paroles  For  more  than  the  number  that  you 
had  declared  exchanged,  though  you  failed  to  produce  those  paroles, 
or  togivc  any  account  or  history  of  them  ;  and  you  then  proceeded  to 
make  a  further  declaration  of  exchange,  ignoring  the  cartel  altogether — 
basing  your  action  upon  no  data  communicated  to  me,  the  whole  proceed- 
ing resting,  as  I  suppose  you  will  say,  upon  your  sense  of  right,  as  if 
you  were  the  only  party  having  a  right  to  an  opinion  on  the  subject — 
acting  evidently  in  anticipation  of  the  formal  declaration  referred  to 
at  the  commencement  of  this  communication,  "  that  you  will  proceed 
to  make  declarations  of  exchange  foT  the  purpose  of  putting  troops 
into  the  field,  whenever  you  think  proper;"  and,  having  now 
exhausted,  by  a  declaration  of  exchange,  the  paroled  prisoners  in  your 
hands,  you  propose  to  me  'the  delivery  of  prisoners  of  war  in  our. 
hands,  for  whom  you  have  no  equivalents — or,  comparatively,  but 
very  few — in  order,  as  it  were,  that  you  may  obtain  possession  of 
many  thousand  more  men  of  your  own,  delivered  or  on  parole,  for  the 
purpose  of  declaring  them  also  exchanged,  and  putting  them  into  the 
field,  not  in  conformity  with  the  existing  cartel,  nor  .in  accordance 
with  the  usages  of  war,  but  whenever,  in  your  individual  judgment, 
you  may  think  it-  proper  to  do  so. 


109 

I  ha.ve  only  to  add,  that  an  easy  inference  from  this  statement  is 
the  answer  I  have  to  make  to  your  proposal  of  the  20th  instant,  which 
is  not  accepted. 

Respectfullv.  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.   MEREDITH, 
Brig.  Gen,  and  Commission?/-  for  Seech 


[No.  37] 

:.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Con  kh!  rati:  States  oa  America,  War iDepajitment,      ) 

Richmond,  October  31,  1SG3.  \ 
Brig.   Gen.   S.    A.   Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exch  inge  : 

Sir  :   Your  communication  of  the  29th  instant,  has  been  received, 
and  i  iry  :md  groundless  statements  read  with   surprise. 

To:  Tit  mc  as  having  informed  you  that  1  would  proceed 

to  declare  ;es  whenever  1  conscientiously  felt  that  I  had  the 

right  to   '  the  purpose  of  putting  men  into  the  Geld.     In  :in- 

r  letter  1  am  charged  with  having  stated  that  I  would 
proceed  t  declarations  of  exchange  for  the  purpose  of  putting 

troops  inl  Id,  whenever  1  thought  proper.     Doth  of  th 

grapl  tween  quotation  marks,  to  indicate  tjuit  I  had  communi- 

cated them.     M  >ret>ver,  they  are  mentioned  as  beingmy  "unequivocal 
ion   a  faithful   examination    of  my   correspondence 
with  you  and  .1  ean  find  no  ii  in  which 

used  by  me.  Will  you  inform  me  of  the  date  of 
any  such  communication,  or  furnish  me  "with  a  copy  of  it  ?  If  you 
cannot  you  will  certainly  deem  me  justified  in  denouncing  your  state- 
ment as  utterly  without  foundation  in  truth. 

Upon  tl  ruses  you  have  proceeded  to  throw  off  sundry  sen- 

Tit  than  worthy  of  notice.      As  usual,  however,  yon 
tinisl;  h  which  contains  them  with  n  misstatement,  in  a-- 

sorting  tl  Lve  declared  exchanged  all  Confederate  officers  and 

men  on  parole,"  within  our  lines,  "  up  to  a  very  recent  date."     I  have 
done  g.      1  specially  excepted  the  larger  part  of  the  Vicks- 

•d  to  give  what  you  call  "  a  his!  this  matter." 

That  history,   like-many  others,   turns  out  to  i  Lance.      Lieut. 

Col.  I  declarations  of  exchange,    to  which  I  referred  in  my 

\  16         were  not  made  in  response  to  any  invita- 
tion fi  u  consequence  of  any  previous  itiona  which  1 
'    dii  not  "inaugurate''   what  you  term  *"*  departure 
ffon                              '"                                                          .  cry  clearly  show- 
that  f 

.  also,  in  it  the  Vicksburg  capture 


\  1 0 

was  subsequent  to  your  "  coming  to  duty  "  at  Fortress  Monro  1 
received  official  communications  from  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  as  late  as 
July  22,  186S,  weeks  after  the  Vicksburg  surrender,  and  none  from 
you  until  the  25th  of  the  same  month. 

Your  charge  that  the  declaration  of  exchange,  hearing  date  Sep- 
tember \2.  1863,  was.  made  "as  if  for  lac  express  purpose  of  inci 
yog  the  force  of  General  Bragg  against  General  Rosencrans."  This, 
■  is  untrue.  The  declaration  was  not  published  until  several  days 
after  the  12th,  although  it  bore  that  date.  Not  one  of  the  officers  or 
men  named  in  that  .'ion  of  exchange  was  on  the  battle-field  of 

Chick  am  auga. 

You  further  say  I  \.  ■  known  that  I  had  not  delivered  to  you, 

nor  hal  I  valid  paroles  of  your  men.  sufficient  to  cover  the  number 
declared  exchanged  by  me.  I  knew  exactly  thv.  contrary,  and  eo  in- 
formed you.  On  the  1 2th  of  September.  1863,  in  announcing  the 
declaration  of  exchange  1  would  make  on  the  following  day.  1  wrote 
to  you  that  I  had  "  in  my  possession  marc  valid  paroles  of  your  officers 
and  men  than  would  be  an  equivalent  for  the  officers  and  men"  enu- 
merated in  the  exchange  notice.  I  have  made  the  same  statement  to 
you  more  than  once  since.  I  a  in  prepared  to  prove  that  it  was  true 
each  time  it  was  uttered. 

You  say  your  declaration  of  exchange  extended  to  those  whom  I 
had  delivered.  If  you  mean  that  it  was  limited  to  such,  you  are  incor- 
rect ;  for  it  declared  exchanged  all  officers  and  men  of  the  United 
States  army  captured  and  paroled  at  any  time  previous  to  the  1st  of 
September,  1863,  and  included  many  thousands  of  prisoners  taken 
and  paroled  by  our  cavalry  and  other  forces,  in  many  States  of  the 
Confederacy,  never' delivered  by  me.  I  have  already  furnished  you  a 
memorandum  of  at  least  sixteen  thousand  of  these  paroled  prisoners. 

You  say  I  failed  to  produce  the  paroles,  or  to  give  any  account  or 
history  of  them.  If  you  mean  that  I  refused  to  do  so,  it  is  not  true. 
1  offered  to  produce  them  at  any  time,  and  importuned  you  to  agree 
to  some  principle  by  which  they  could  be  computed  and  adjusted. 
When  I  last  met  you  at  City  Point,  you  requested  me  for  the  first 
time  to  send  to  you  a  memorandum  of  the  paroles  claimed  as  valid  by 
me.  I  furnished  you  with  the  list  on  the  27th  instant,  that  beiijg  the 
first  day,  after  your  request,  on  which  a  flag  of  truce  boat  appeared 
at  City  Point. 

You  say  I  then  proceeded  to  make  a  further  declaration  of  exchange, 
ignoring  the  cartel  altogether,  and  resting  the  whole  proceeding,  as 
you  suppose,  on  my  sense  of  right.  There,  again,  you  are  mistaken. 
I  did  not  rest  the  proceeding  entirely  upon  my  sense  of  right ;  I  re- 
lied, in  some  measure,  upon  yours,  and  to  that  extent,  its  propriety 
maybe  doubtful.  In  communicating  to  you  Exchange  Notice,  No.  7, 
which  is  the  one  to  which  you  refer,  I  wrote  to  you  as  follows:  "  I 
herewith  enclose  to  you  a  declaration  of  exchange,  which  I  shall  pub- 
lish in  a  day  or  two.  You  will  perceive  it  is  based  upon  the  declara- 
tion of  exchange  •ommunieated  to  me  in  your  letter  of  the  24th  of 
September  last.  In  my  notice  I  have  followed  your  phraseology.  1 
would  have  preferred  another  form  of  declaration,  more  in  accordance 


111 

with  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  Inasmuch,  however,  as  my  dec- 
laration, to  a  considerable  extent,  is  retaliatory  of  yours,  J  have 
deemed  it  more  appropriate  to  follow  your  own  form  of  expression." 
Your  letter  of  the  24th  of  September  declared  that  "  all  officers  and 
men  of  the  United  States  ainiy,  captured  and  paroled  at  any  time  pre- 
vious to  the  1st  of  September,  1863,  are  duly  exchanged.*'  On  the 
16th  of  October  following,  I  declared  exchanged  "nil  [Confederate] 
•dicers  and  men  captured  find  paroled  at  any  time  previous  to  the  1st 
at  September,  1863."'  If  that  was  "ignoring  the  car  el,"  as  you 
charge,  I  only  followed  your  example.  Our  declarations  of  exchange 
were  precisely  similar,  except  that  in  another  part  of  my  notice  I  re- 
i  rved  from  its  operation  the  larger  part  of  the  Vicksburg  paroles.  !f 
I  had  followed  your  "  sense  of  right,"  as  I  then  had  and  still  claim 
the  right  to  do,  I  would  have  included  all. 

The  Confederate  authorities  take  it  unto  themselves  as  a  proud  and 
honorable  boast,  that  they  have  determined  all  these  matters  of  parole: 
and  exchanges  according  to  their  "sense  of  right,*'  and  not  by  any 
views  of  temporary  expediency.  In  following  that  guide,  they  have 
at  least  shunned  some  examples  furnished  by  your  Government.  They 
have  never,  in  violation  of  their  general  orders,  and  without  notico 
to  the  adverse  party,  ordered  their  paroled  officers  and  men  lo  break 
their  solemn  covenaut,  and,  without,  exchange,  lift  their  arm-  against 
their  captors.  They  have,  therefore,  esceped  the  pango  of  that  re- 
tributive justice  which  madc^onr  general  order  of  Jul)  3,  IS63, 
though  so  well  suited  to  the  meridian  of  Gettysburg,  invalidate  the 
vroles  given  at  Port  Hudson,  on  the  9th  of  the  same  month*  Upon 
further  reflection,  I  am  sure  you  will  be  satisfied  that  it  dot^s  not  be- 
come your  authorities,  who  have  chosen,  whenever  they  felt  so  dis- 
posed, without  notice  or  consent  from  us,  to  repudiate  the  established 
usages  of  exchange,  and  put  new  constructions  upon  the  cartel,  to 
•omplain  that  others  have  acted  according  to  their  suise  of  right. 

Not  content  with  all  the*tnissratements  of  fact  which   I  have  cited, 

u  have,  in  your  letter  of  the  29th  instant,  descended  to  a  malignant 
and  wanton  aspersion  of  the  motives  of  the  Confederate  authorities  i  i 
making  the  proposal  contained  in  my  letter  of  the  2dth  instant.  You 
were  asked  to  agree  "  that  all  officers  and  men  on  both  sides  should  be 
released,  the  excess  on  one  side  or  the  other  to  be  on  paiuio."  It 
would  have  been  injustice  enough  to  the  many  thousands  >d*  your 
prisoners  in  our  hands,  and  to  those  of  ours  in  your  custody,  -imply 
to  have  declined  the  .proposal.      But  you  have  thought  pi  add 

•  your  refusal  the  gratuitous  insult  to  the  Confederate  States,  <>f  inti- 
mating that  their  fair  and  honest  offer  was  made  for  the  purpose  of 
putting  into  the  field  officers  and  men  fraudulently  exchanged.  This 
'alumny  i«  as  destitute  of  foundation  in  fact,  a^  it  is  iespicabLe  :n 
spirit. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  tell  you  that  the  purpose  of  your  letter  is  ap- 
parent.    It  has  been  well  known  for  a  long  time  that  your  n    :      i ties 
ire  oppose*!  to  a  fair  and  regular  exchange  of  prisoners  under  the 
•artel.      In  rejecting  my  proposition  you  have  endeavored  to  pone 
under  %  cloud  of  vague  charges  and  unfounded  statement  tor- 


112 

mination  at  v.  hich  your  Government  long  since  arrived.  Why  not  be 
frank  knee  ?  Why  not  say,  without  any  further  subterfuges,  that 
you  have  readied  the  conclusion  that  our  officer?  and  soldiers  aremore 
valuable,  man  for  man,  than  yours  ? 

Respectfully,,  your  obedient  servant. 

RO.  OULI),  Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  38.] 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH    TO  MR.  Ob'LD. 

Office  of  Commissioner  for  Exchange,  } 
Fortress  Monroe,    Va.,  Nov.  ?th,  1863.       \ 

Hon.  Robert  Ofld, 

■nt  of  Exchange,   Richmond,    Va. : 

Sir  :  In  your  communication  of  Oct.  27th,  you  state,  "that  general 
orders  Nos.  49  and  1 00  were  not  sent  to  you  at  the  same  time."  I 
forward  you  herewith. a  copy  of  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow's  letter,  inclosing 
to  you  the  two  orders  above-mentioned,  and  bearing  date  May  22d, 
1853. 

These  two  orders  announced  general  rules,  based  on  the  usages  of 
war.  which,  in  the  absence  of  any  specific  agreement  between  belli-, 
gercnts.  should  govern  in  paroling  prisoners  of  war,  but  in  this  case, 
a  carte]  had  already  been  agreed  upon,  and  no  order  of  either  party 
could  set  aside  any  of  its  provisions.  For  instance  :  A  commander, 
on  being  captured,  might,  under  some  circumstances,  give  a  parole 
for  himself  and  his  command,  without  violating  general  order  No. 
li!i>,  (which  includes  general  ordcrNo.  #9,)  but  unless  the  paroling 
was  done  at  City  Point  or  other  named  place,  it  would  be  in  violation 
of  the  cartel,  and  the  paroles  must  therefore  be  set  aside  as  invalid. 
No  exception  could  be  taken  to  this  course  by  the  party  granting 
the  parole,  because  the  validity  of  the  parole  depends  on  a  strict  com- 
pliance with  the  provisions  of  the  cartel,  and  Avhen  any  other  course, 
is  followed,  than  that  pointed  out  by  that  instrument,  any  claim  based 
upon  it  must  fail.  Paragraph  131),  of  order  101),  which  prescribes 
the  duties  which  a  paroled  soldier  may  perform,  is  also,  to  some 
extent,  set  aside  by  the  cartel,  which  restricts  these  duties  to  a  much 
more  limited  field  than  the  order.  Paragraph  131  is  also  made  inope- 
rative by  the  cartel,  because  it  could  only  apply  to  paroles  not  given 
at  the  points  designated  for  delivery  ;  all  such  paroles  are,  by  the 
cartel,  made  invalid,  and  the  paroling  party  could  therefore  have  no 
pretext  for  claiming  their  recognition.  If  such  a  claim  could  be 
admitted,  the  effect  at  Gettysburg. would  have  been  to  give  to  Gen. 
Lee,  the  privilege  of  placing  his  prisoners  in  our  hands,  to  be  deliv- 
ered to. him,  at  our  own  charge,  at  City  Point,  which  is  so  manifestly 
absurd,  that  even  you  cannot  claim  it.     General  order  No.  207,  vratf 


113     . 

intended  simply  to  announce  to  the  army,  that  the  irregular  practice 
of  paroling  small  squads  of  men  and  individuals,  without,  roll-;  o; 
other  reliable  evidence  of  any  kind,  which  had  Very  generally  pre- 
vailed, must  be  discontinued,  and  that  thereafter,  the  cartel  should  1" 
rigidly  adhered  to.  This  announcement  bad  been  made  to  the 
federate  authorities  through  you. 

There  have  been  rid  --successive-  changes  of  purpose   in  the  matter 
of  paroles,"  as  yon  assert,  nor  changes  of  any  kind,  except    so  far  as 
to  return  to  a   strict  ob»ervance  of  the    cartel;   and  this    is  a  ch 
the  propriety  of  which,  I  do  not  think  yon  can  question. 

The  figures  which   I   gave  you  in    my  letter  of  October  17th, 
not  given  as  embracing   all   declare'!  exchanged  in  general -rder  167, 
of  dune  8th,  but  only  those  which    Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  used,  to  i 
up  the  balm  cr  due  him  after  arranging  that  declaration  with  you.     It 
was  the  declaration   which    Lieut.   Col.    Ludlow   made   to  cover   this 
balance,  that    you   cite,    as   the   precedent    which   authorized  you    to 
announce  so  unexpectedly  your  declaration  of  September  12th.     The. 
80th  Illinois.  31  1  men,  not  400,  as  you  say,  was  accidentally  omitted 
from  my  letter,  and,  by  a  clerical  error,  the  73d   Indiana  wis  written 
7oth  Indiana.      Paragraphs  5  and  6,  of  General  Order  167,  cover  the 
troops  referred  to,  and  other  paragraphs  cover  the  captures  mentioned 
by  you.      Any  discrepancy  in   numbers   declared    exchanged  at  that 
time,  on  either  side,  is  of  little  consequence,  as  up  to  the  date  of  that 
order,   it  is  assumed  that  the  exchange   account  was   satisfacf 
balanced. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.    MEREDITH, 
Brig.    Gen.   and  Com'r  for  .Exchange. 


[No.  39.] 
LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  MR.  OCXD. 

HEADQUARTERS    Dep't    OF    Va.,    7tH    ArMV    CoRFS,  / 

Fort  Monroi,   Va.,  May  22,   1863.       j 

Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners  : 

Sik  :  I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  to  you  copies  of  General  O 
No.  4$  and  No.  100,  of  War  Department,  announcing  regulations 
and  instructions  for  the  government  of  the  United  States  fore 
the  field,  in  the  matter  of  paroles.  These,  together  with  the  stipula- 
tions of  the  cartel,  will  govern  our  army.  I  would  invite  your  special 
attention  to  article  7  of  the  cartel,  which  provides  that  all  prisoners 
of  war  shall  be  sent  to  places  of  delivery  therein  specified.  The 
execution  of  this  article  will  obviate  murh  discussion  and  difficulty 
growing  out  of  the  mode,  time,  and  place  of  giving  paroles.  N- 
8 


114 

paroles  or  exchanges  will  be  considered  binding,  except  those  under 
the    stipulations   of    said    article,    permitting    commanders    of   two 
opposing  armies   to   #xchange   or   release  on   parole  at  other   points 
mutually  agreed  on  by  said  commanders. 
I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obyuient  servant, 

WM.  H.  LUDLOW, 
Lieut.   Col.  and  Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 


[No.  40.] 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

C.   S.  A.,  War  Department,  > 

Richmond,   Va.,  Nov.  18th,  1863.  $ 

!>rig.  Gen.  S.  A.   Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange  : 

Sir  :  In  your  communication  of  Nov.  7th,  1863,  you  enclose  a  copy 
of  a  letter  bearing  date  May  22d,  1863,  purporting  to  have  been 
written  by  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  and  addressed  to  me. 

I  reiterate  what  I  have  before  said,  that  general  order  No.  100, 
wlenitwas  delivered  to  me,  was  not  accompanied  by  any  written 
communication.  You  are  aware  that  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  was  at  City 
Point  on  the  23d  of  May.  It  is  unquestionably  true  that  he  wrote 
the  aforesaid  letter  on  the  22d,  at  Fortress  Monroe.  It  is  just  as  true 
that  he  brought  it  with  him  to  City  Point.  My  own  personal  recol- 
lection is  perfectly  distinct  that,  at  the  conclusion  of  our  interview  at 
(Jity  Point,  he  took  the  pamphlet  containing  general  order  No.  100 
irom  a  package,  the  seal  of  which  he  broke  at  the  time,  and  delivered 
said  order  into  my  hands,  with  the  remark  that  its  provisions  in  the 
future  would  govern  the  operations  of  the  United  States  forces.  Why  he 
retained  the  letter  I  do  not  know.  The  fact,  however,  is  exactly  as  I 
>.ave  stated  it,  and  fully  explains  why  a  copy  of  the  letter  was  on 
i.ieut.  Col.  Ludlow's  letter  book.  I  do  not  want  to  be  understood  for 
one  moment  as  imputing  any  fraud  or  improper  conduct  in  what  Lieut. 
Col.  Ludlow  did  in  the  premises.  He  undoubtedly  thought  the 
remark  he  made  at  the  time  of  the  delivery  dispensed  with  the  neces- 
sity of  giving  me  the  letter. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT   OULD, 

Agent  of  Exchange. 


CORRESPONDENCE 

Relative  to  General  Morgan  and  his  men. 


[No.  41.] 

BRIG.  GEN.    MEREDITH  TO  MR,  OULD. 

Office  Commissioner  for  Exchange,  > 
Fortress  Monroe,  July  30,  1863.      \ 

Hon.  Robert  Ould> 

Commissioner  for  Exchange,  Sfc,  Richmond,  Va.  : 

Sir  :  This  will  inform  you,  and,  through  you,  the  authorities  tinder 
whom  you  act,  that  General  John  H.  Morgan  and  his  officers  will  be 
placed  in  close  confinement  and  held  as  hostages  for  the  members  of 
Colonel  Streight's  command,  who  have  not  been  delivered  in  compliance 
with  the  conditions  of  the  cartel  agreed  to  by'Major  General  Dix  and 
Major  General  Hill. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  MEREIHT1I, 
Brig.  Gen.  U  S.  Vols,  and  CovCr  for  Exckangr. 


[No.  42.] 

MR,  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

War  Department,      > 
Richmond,  Va.,  August  I,  1863,  ) 

Brigadier  General  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange  : 

Sir:  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  communication  of  the  80th  ultimo, 
informing  me  that  "General  John  II.  Morgan  and  hit  officers  will  b< 
placed  in  close  confinement  and  hold  as  hostages  for  the  members  of 
Colonel  Strcight's  command."  I  beg  leave  respectfully  to  ask  what 
you  mean  by  "  close  confinement?"  In  what  respect  will  that  "  close 
confinement"  differ  from  the  confinement  of  other  prisoners,  officers 
and  men. 


116    . 


Colonel  Streight'a  command  is  treated  exactly  as  are  the  other 
officers  held  in  captivity  by  up.  What  that  treatment  is  you  c;m  find 
from  any  conscientious  officer  who  has  lately  -been  confined  in  the 
Libby.  You  will  hear  no  complaint  from  me  or  from  the  Confederate 
authorities  so  long  as  our  officers  receive  the  •treatment  which  yours 
do  here. 

You  further  say  that  "Colonel  Streight?s  command  have  not 
delivered  in  compliance  with  the  conditions  of  the  cartel  agreed  to  by 
Major  General  Dix  and  Mnjor  Gent  ral  Hill. 

In  retaining  Colonel  Streight  and  Ins 'command  the  Confederate 
authorities  have  not  gone  as  fir  as  those  of  the  United  States  have 
claimed  f  r  themselves  the  right  to"  go  ever  since  the  establishment  of 
that  carte)  You  have  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  to  retain  officers 
and  men  indefinitely,  not' only  upon  charges  actually  preferred,  but 
upon  mire  suspicions.  YTou  have  now  in  custody  officers  wlro  were  in 
confinement  when  the  cartel  was  framed,  and  who  have  since  >>een 
declared  exchanged.  Some  ot  t'lern  have  been  tried,  but  most  of  them 
have  languished  in  prison  all  the  weary  time  without  trial  or  charges. 
I  stand  prepared  to  prove  these  assertions.  This  course  ".as  pursued, 
too,  in  the  face  not  only  of  notice  but  protest.     Do  you  deny  us  the 


right  to  detain  officers  and  men  for   trial 


upon   grave   chaijj.es. 


while 


yoa  claim  the  right  to  keep  in  confinement  any  who  may  be  thcotjects 
of  your  suspicion  or  special  enmity  ? 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

*  ROBERT  GULP,1 
Ageixt  of  Exchange, 


[No:   43.] 
MM.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 


Richmo.no,  August  28,  18G3. 
Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange: 

Sir  :  Some  time  ago  I  addressed  a  communication  to  you,  asking 
why  you  held  General  Morgan  in  close  confinement,  and  what  was  its 
nature?  To  that  I  have  received  no  reply.  In  that  I  am  net  disap- 
pointed, as  it  is  not  the  habit"  of  the  Federal  agent  of  exchange  to 
answer  enquiries.  Since  then  I  have  seen  in  your  papers  detailed 
accounts  of  the  treatment  General  Morgan  and  his  brother  officers 
have  received.  What  does  this  mean  ?  It  is  alleged  that  this  course 
is  pursued  in  retaliation  for  the  confinement  of  Colonel  Streight  and 
rhi8  officers.  I  have  already  assured  you  that  those  officers  are  treated 
exactly  as  all  others  held  in  confinement  at  the  Libby.  Colonel 
Streight  has  expressed  to  me,  in  person,  his  satisfaction  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  he  was  treated.     Do  you  wish  him  ahayed  and  put 


117 

in  a  felon's  cell?  If  you  do,  you  are  pursuing  exactly  trio  course  to 
effect  it.  May  I  again  ask,  -why  have  you  put  General  Morgan  arid 
his  brother  officer-  in  a  penitentiary?-  I  have  but  faint  hopes  of  get- 
ting any  reply,  but  under  the  circumstances  I  have  ventured  the 
question. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  OUL'D, 
Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  -14.] 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Headquarters  Department  of  Va.,  7th  Army  Corps,  } 
Fortress  Monroe,  Sept.  30,  1863".       j 

lion.  Rorf.rt  Ould, 

Agent  of  Exchange,  Richmond,  Va.: 

Sir  :  Had  I  succeeded — after  waiting  thirty  hours — in  obtaining  an 
interview  with  you  when  I  was  last  at  City  Point — I  had  intended  to 
explain  to  you  that  the  U.nited  States  authorities  -had  nothing  what- 
ever to  do  with. the  treatment  that  General  Morgan  and  his  command 
received  when  imprisoned  at  Columbus.  Such  treatment  was  wholly 
unauthorized. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.   A.  MEREDITH, 
Brig.  Gen.  and  Coirtr  for  Exchange, 


[No..  4o.] 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.   MI-  MED1TIT. 

Richmond.  ' '  I,  1863. 

Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Mervoitm. 

Agent  of  Exchai 

Sir  :  As  you  did  not  have  the  opportunity  to  explain  to  mo  at  City 
Point  how  "the  United  States  authorities  h  d  nothing  *  ■  do  with  the 
treatment  that  General  Mor.an  and  his  command  received  when  im- 
prisoned at'Columbus,"  will  you  be  si  kind  astodoTtnow  ?  1  thought 
Morgan   and  his  command    were   p  of  war,   captured  by  the 

tJpi'H'l  States  forces,  and  therefore  in  their  custody.     You  and  I 
talked  twice  about  General  Moi  1  no  hint  was  thrown  oat  that 

no>uas  not  a  prisoner  of  the  United  S  it,  on  the 


118 

30th  of  July  last,  you  informed  me  by  letter  that  "  General  John  H. 
Morgan  and  his  officers  will  be  placed  in  close  confinement  and  held 
as  hostages  for  the  members  of  Colonel  Streight's  command."  Will 
you  please  explain  to  me  what  you  meant  by  this  notice  of  the  30th 
of  July,  if  "  the  United  States  authorities  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
treatment  that  General  Morgan  and  his  command  received."  Nay, 
more,  will  you  enlighten  me  as  to  the  point,  why  the  United  States 
authorities  have  allowed  their  prisoners  and  "hostages"  to  receive 
such  "  unauthorized  treatment"  for  two  months  ?  1  hope  the  reason 
is  not  of  such  a  nature  that  it  can  only  be  communicated  in  a  whisper. 
Let  me  have  it  on  paper. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  OULD, 
Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  46.] 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Richmond,  October  13,  1S63. 
Brig.  Ge.n.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange  : 

Sir  :  Accompanying  this  communication  you  will  find  the  copy  of 
a  letter  from  Lieutenant  Colonel  Alston,  of  General  Morgan's  com- 
mand. Lieutenant  Colonel  Alston  is  the  officer  who  was  delivered  at 
City  Point  by  the  last  flag  of  true  boat.  On  the  30th  of  September 
last,  you  informed  me  that  "  the  United  States  authorities  had  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  treatment  that  General  Morgan  and  his  com- 
mand received  when  imprisoned  at  Columbus."  In  my  interview 
with  you,  about  one  week  ago,  you  informed  me  that  General  Morgan 
and  his  officers  were  held  for  others  than  "  the  members  of  Colonel 
Streight's  command."  You  showed  me  a  letter  from  General  Hitch- 
cock, in  which  the  fact  was  announced.  .  It  seems  that  your  authori- 
ties, having  been  assured,  either  from  my  representations  or  from 
those  of  your  own  people  in  confinement  at  Richmond,  that  Colonel 
Stricght  and  his  officers  were  receiving  precisely  the  same  treatment 
as  that  of  other  prisoners,  they  have  adopted  some  other  excuse  for 
the  continued  confinement  of  General  Morgan  and  his  officers  in  a 
penitentiary.  I  ask  if  this  does  not  show  a  determination  to  keep 
these  officers  in  a  confinement  intended  to  be  ignominious  ?  When 
one  excuse  fails  another  is  set  up. 

Your  Secretary  of  War  has  himself  borne  testimony  of  the  "  honor" 
of  Lieutenant  Colonel  ""Alston.  I  therefore  call  your  attention  to  his 
communication,  and  again  ask  you  how  can  General  Morgan's  original 
incarceration  in  the  Ohio  penitentiary,  his  continued  confinement 
therein,  the  indignities  received  by  him  and  his  brother  officers,  and 
your  announcement  at  our  last  interview  be  explained,  if  "  the  United 


119 

States  authorities  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  treatment  General  Mor- 
gan and  his  command  received  when  imprisoned  at  Columbus?" 
Will  you  also  inform  me  whether  the  ''United  States  authorities" 
intend  to  treat  these  officers  as  felons  in  the  future  ?  And,  if  not. 
whether  those  authorities  will  allow  others  bo  to  treat  them  ? 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant,  . 

RO.  OULD, 
Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  47.] 
LIEUT.  COL.  ALSTON   TO  MR.  SEDDOX. 

Richmond,  October  10,  IS63. 

Hon.  James  A.  Seddon, 

Secretary  of  War  : 

In  compliance  with  your  request.  I  beg  leave  to  submit  the  follow- 
ing statement : 

On  the  5th  day  of  July  last,  Brigadier  General  John  IE.  Morgan. 
in  command  of  a  foree  of  Confederate  cavalry,  attacked  the  Federal 
garrison  at  Lebanon,  Kentucky,  which  consisted  of  the  twentieth 
regiurent  Kentucky  volunteer  infantry,  about  five  hundred  men,  and  a 
section  of  artillery,  about  forty  men,  all  under  the  command  of  Lieut. 
Colonel  Charles  L.  Hanson.  After  a  severe  engagement  of  about 
seven  hours.  Colonel  Hanson  surrendered  the  entire  force  that  had 
not  been  killed  fie  requested  General  Morgan  to  parole  him  and'his 
command,  to  which  General  Morgan  objected,  "that  his  (Colonel 
Hanson's)  Government  had  published  a  general  order,  that  no  more 
such  paroles  would  be  respected."  Colonel  Hanson  replied,  "that  he 
was  aware  of  this  order,  but  this  was  a  case  which  he  believed,  on 
proper  representation  to  higher  authority,  would  be  permitted  as  an 
exception  to  this  order;  and,  at  any  rate,  if  General  Morgan  would 
grant  the  parole  to  himself  ami  the  officers  and  men  of  his  regiment, 
he  would  pledge  bia  |  ersonal  honor  that  he  not  only  would  observe  it, 
but  would  see  that  every  other  one  to  whom  the  privilege  was  extei 
should  observe  it.    If.  after  making  a  proper  >f  all  the  facta 

to  higher  authority,  he  should  be  ordered  back  into  .  he  would 

pledge  himself  to  report  to  General  M  tint  within  the 

Confederate  Lil 

This  interview  took  place  in  the  presence  *a1  officers,  among 

whom   were  Captain   Dai  itant    Adjutant  G  of  Duke's 

brigade,  who  \n.:-    an   official   witness   of  ;»  i i « 1 .  and  who 

immediately  r<  me,  and  brought  th<  from  General 

Morgan  for  me  to  parole  Colonel   Hanson  and  his  men  and  officers. 

Acting  under  the-'  instructions,  1  paroled  them  on  the  evening  of  the 

.r>th  of  July,  and  on  the  8th  of  duly.  Campbell,  of 

our  command,  and  a  small  detachn  lured  by  a 

portion   of  this  very  regiment,  and   were   treated,  on   their   arrival   at 


120 

iNieholasville,  with  the  greatest  indignity  by  Capt.  Frank  E.  Walcotfc, 
>f  company  F,  of  the  same  regiment.  He  not  only  abused  the  men 
is  a  parcel  of  horse  thieves  and  scoundrels,  but  took  their  boots  and 
bats  from  them  and  threw  them  away  in  their  presence.  Lieutenant 
Oolonel  Hanson  also  came  up  a  short  time  afterwards,  and  took  from 
one  of  the  parties  some  crackers  and  cheese,  which  he  had  been  allowed 
by  the  sergeant  to  purchase. 

In  a  few  days  afterwards  Lieutenant  Colonel  Hanson  was  ordered 
to  Louisville  to  do  provost  duty,  relieving  Lieutenant  Colonel  Stcrritt, 
of  the  twenty-fifth  Michigan  volunteer  infantry,  who  was  ordered  to 
the  field.     He  and  his  regiment  are  still  on  duty  there* 

On  the  26th  July,  Brigadier  General  Morgan  and  most  of  his 
officers  were  captured.  They  were  carried  to  Cincinnati,  and  from 
''.hence  he  and  twenty-eight  of  his  officers  were  selected  and  carried  to 
Jolumbus,  Ohio,  where  they  were  shaved  and  their  haircut  very 
by  a  negro  convict.  They  were  then  marched  to  the  bath  room  and 
scrubbed,  and  from  there  to  their  cells,  where  they  were  locked  up. 
'Che  Federal  papers  published,  with  great  delight,  a  minute  account  of 
the  whole  proceedings.  Seven  days  afterwards,  forty-two  more  of 
General  Morgan's  officers  were  conveyed  from  Johnson's  Island  tothe 
penitentiary,  and  subjected  to  the  same  indignities.  I  have  seen 
Oolonei  D.  Harrard  Smith,  one  of  the  officers  who  was  conveyed  there 
•t.inong  the  second  lot.  and  he  told  me  that  Mr.  .Merrion,  the  warden, 
£.pjolo<nzed  for  such  treatment;  but  he  had  distinctly  informed  General 
E  ide  that  he  would  receive  them  on  no  other  terms,  and  he  had 

I  them. 

Very  respectfully  submiUed  by  vour  obedient  servant, 

11.  ALSTON, 
Lieutenant  Colonel  P.  A.  C.  S. 


CORRESPONDENCE 

Relative  to  the  Uetenli  >n  of  Surgeons. 


[No.  48.] 
.MR.  OUI.D  TO  LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW. 

Richmom),  Vi  ,  Miry  $9,  1868. 

Lieut.  Col.  Wm.  li.  Ludlow, 

n(  of  Exchange : 

Sir:   The  nam'  al  Confederate  officers,  including  tfiat  of 

Col.  Morehead,  who  were  long  since  declared  exchanged  under  our 
agreements,  appear  upon  one  of  your  recent  rolls.  These  officers 
■  ,iv  not  delivered  to  us.  I  understand  they  are  detained  rt  or  near 
Old  Point.  Are  these  officers  to  be  delivered  to  us  or  not?  One  of 
ihem  is  a  Confederate  surgeon — Dr.  Read.  Do  you  intend  to  retain 
surgeons  ?• 

There  is  not  a  single  Federal  officer  in  our  custody  who  has  been 
declared  exchanged,  unless  ifrnay  be  Rucker;  and  for  him  you  hold 
Dr.  Green.  On  what  pretence  are  these  officers  held?  I  will  be 
obliged  to  you,  if  you  will  inform  me  what  course  you  intend  to 
pursue  in  reference  to  such  cases. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No    49  ] 

L1UT.  COL.  LUDLOW tO  MR,  OULD. 

ixH'ARTtns  Dkpartmk.nt  ok  ViBClNIA,  7th  Army  Corps.       t 

Fvrt  Monroe.,  June  9,  1663.  $ 
lion.  Robert  '  'i  u>. 

it  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners  : 

Sir:    Please  have  ready  for  delivery,  nil  our  officers   in  your  hands 

who   have   been   declared  exchanged— Spencer    Kellogg    among  the 

number.     Deliveries  <>f  yeur  officers  dec!  ir<  1  exchanged  can  t) 

effected.     I  woul  1  suggest   :.<>  you  that   Dr.  Uucker  be  included.     I 

much  ilcsire  thai  all  eurgcons  shoul i  be  treated  as  non-com- 


122 

batants,  and  unconditionally  released.     As  I  have  before  remarked  to 
you,  the  cause  of  humanity'demands  it. 

I  saw  Dr.  Green  at  Fort  Norfolk.     He  is  most  anxious  to  know 
what  is  to  be  his  fate.     Can  you  inform  him  ? 
I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  H.  LUDLOW, 
Lieut.  Col.,  and  Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 


[No.  50.] 
MR.  OULD  TO  LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW. 


Confederate  States  of  America,  War  Department,      ) 

Richmond,  Va.,  June  12,  1863.  \ 

Lieut.  Col   Wm.  H.  Ludlow, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

Sir  :  Dr.  Rucker  is  prosecuted  by  the  State  of  Virginia,  for  offences 
against  her  laws,  for  which  he  ha'd  no  warrant  in  your  own  military 
law  to  commit.  .  If  you  have  any  such  officer  of  the  Confederate  States 
in  any  such  position,  even  though  he  may  have  been  declared  ex- 
changed by  our  general  agreements.  T  cannot  complain  of  his  retention. 

With  this  proper  limitation,  extending  to  only  one  case,  I  am  ready 
at  any  moment,  to  deliver  you  every  officer  or  man  whom  we  have 
declared  exchanged.  I  do  not  believe  there  are  any  such  in  our  prisons. 
I  have,  however,  caused  diligent  search  to  be  made,  and  if  any  such 
are  discovered,  they  will  be  promptly  delivered  to  you. 

I  hope,  therefore,  you  will  have  all  our  exchanged  officers  and  men 
sent  to  City  Point  immediately.  You  will  find  there  any  of  the  same 
class  whom  I  can  discover.  I  will  be  thankful  to  you  for  any  names 
which  you  may  be  able  to  furnish.  Spencer  Kellogg's  case  is  already 
under  inquiry. 

With  the  limitation  as  to  Dr.  Rucker,  I  am  entirely  agreed  to  re- 
lease unconditionally  all  surgeons.     I  agree  with  you,  that  the  cause 
of  humanity  demands  it,  unless,  indeed,  it  is  shown  that  the  surgeon 
has  committed  offences  which  prove  him  to  be  a  savage  and  a  beast. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


123 

t 

[No.  51..] 

LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Headquarters  Department  of  Virginia,  7th  Army  Corps,       ) 

Fort  Monroe,  June  14,  1863.  j 
Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  for  Exchange  : 
Sir  :  Dr.  Green  will  be  retained  as  a  hostage  for  Dr.  Rucker.     All 
other  surgeons  in  our  custody  (three  or  four  now  being  here)  will  be 
released  and  delivered  to  you,  on  the  release  and  delivery  to  me  of  all 
you  hold,  except  Dr.  Rucker. 

Do  you  agree  to  this,  with  the  additional  understanding  that  the 
detentions  of  surgeons  shall  be  confined  to  these  two  ? 

Please  inform  me  when   Spencer  Kellogg,  and  other  of  our  officers 
declared  exchanged,  will  be  delivered  at  City  Point,  in  order  that  ar- 
rangements  may  be   made  for  sending    up   such  of  your   exchanged 
officers  as  are  at  Fort  Norfolk  awaiting  delivery. 
I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WM.H.  LUDLOW, 
Lieut.  Col.,  ano\  Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoner*. 


[No.  52.]  + 

LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Hrc.vnqu  ,:ui:rs  Dep't  of  Va.,  7th  Army  Corps,       ) 
Fort  Monroe,  June  18th,  1863.  \ 

lion.  Robert  Ould', 

Agent  for  Exchange,  of  Prisoners  : 

Sir:  I  send  to  you  Col.  Moorhcad  and  Captain  Flint,  who  have 
been  declared  exchanged.  Also,  all  the  Surgeons  we  have  here,  ex- 
cepting Dr.  Green. 

Capt.  Mulford  is  instructed  to  bring  back  Col  Moorhcad,  unless 
Spencer  Kellogg,  declared  exchanged,  be  delivered,  if  in  Richmond, 
or  if  he  be  not,  unless  you  give  an  agreement  that  Kellogg  shall  be 
delivered  at  City  Point  within  two  weeks. 

Capt.  Mulford  i.>  also  instructed  to  bring  back  the  Surgeons,  uuless 
he  receives  all  our  Surgeons  now  confined  in  Richmond,  except  Dr. 
Rucker;  whom  you  retain  under  charges,  and  for  whom  Dr.  Green  is 
held  as  a  hostage. 

I  am,  very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

WM.   II.  LUDLOW, 
Lieut.  Col.,  and  Agent  fur  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 


124 


Among  the  Surgeons  retainer!  by  you,  are  Dr.    Spencer,,  assistant 
surgeon  of  the  ?3d  Indiana;  also,  Dr.  Myers,  U.  S.  N. 

W.  II.  L. 


[No.  53.]  . 
ME.   OULD  TO  LIEUT.  COL.  LUDLOW. 

Confederate  States  of  America,  } 

War  Department.       > 
Richmond,  Va.,  June  23d,  1863.  5 
Lieut.  Col.  Wm.  II.  -Ludlow, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

Sin :  The  grounds  upon  which  Dr.  Rucker  has  been  retained  have 
already  been  very  fully  communicated  to  you.  He  has  been  indicted 
by  the  Commonwealth  of  Virginia  for  offences  committed  within  her 
limits,  which  are  not  sanctioned  by  any  civilized  military  code.  He 
was  not  under  the  protection  of  a  soldier  when  he  committed  the 
felonies  charged  against  him.  The  State  is  now  prosecuting  him  for 
these  crimes*  and  his  trial  has  been  delayed  for  two  terms  of  the 
Court,  at  his  own  instance,  as  I  a  to  informed. 

You  have  said  to  me  that  the  principles  announced,  in  general 
order  No.  100,  are  tp  apply  against. you  as  well  as  for  you.  In  that 
order  you  distinctly  recognize  the  right  of  an  invaded  State  to  punish 
all  wanton  violence  committed  ag  i.inst  its  citizens,  as  well  as  all  des- 
truction of  property  not, -commanded  by  the  authorized  officer.  I  refer 
you  to  paragraphs  44-,  47  and  especially  59.  If  I  had  the  framing  of 
a,  provision- to  meet  Dr.  Rucker\s  case  and  to  justify  his  detention,  I 
could  not  use  apter  terms  than  those  employed  in  paragraph  53. 

Moreover,  yQU  have  claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  holding 
many  of  our  officers  and  soldiers  on  mere  suspicion,  for  months,  with- 
out trial  or  proceedings  of  any  sort  against  them.  You  have  such  in 
confinement  now.  For  them,  we  have  selected  none  of  your  officers 
or  soldiers  in  retaliation.  Yrct,  when  we  retain  the"  first  of  yours, 
under  indictment  .preferred  by  a  grand  jury,  you  immediately  select 
one  of  ours  in  retaliation.  If  we  had  applied  any  such  rule  to  you 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  how  many  of  your  officers  and  soldiers 
would  be  now  in  our  prisons  ? 

I  lament  with  you  the  detention  of  surgeons.  I  am  willing  to  do 
anything  consistent  with  honor  and  justice  to  promote  their  discharge. 
But  we  cannot  surrender  n  clear  right.  Dr.  Bueker's  detention  is 
justified  by  your  own  principles  and  practice.  I  have  already  admit- 
ted your  right  to  detain  any  one  of  our  officers  under  similar  circum- 
stances. 

If  we  are  justified  by  the  rules  of  war  in  detaining  for  trial  Dr. 
Rucker,  what  right  have  you  to  hold  Dr.  Green  in  retaliation  I 

Your  request  for  the  discharge  of  all  surgeons,  except  Drs.  Raker 


125 

and  Green,  is  simply  asking  me  to  admit  that  the  former  is  unjustly 
detained,  and  ike. latter  rightly  held  in  retaliation.  I  deny  both,  and 
appeal  to  your  own  military  laws.  As  Dr.  Rucker  has  asked  to  have 
his  trial  posponed,  let  his  case  remain  as  it  is,  and  let  us  uncondi. 
tiona]  ^  all  other  surgeons  on  b  ides.      If  any  grand  jury 

of  yours  indicts  any  surgeon,  or  other  officer  of  ours  for  suoh  offences 
.as-are  charged  iigainst  Dr.  Ruck''-,  ubd  he  is  detainer!  For  trial,  I   am 
sure  I  v.  j]  omplain. 

spectrally,  your  obedi  atit, 

fcOBERT  OULD;  Agent  of  Exchange. 


•  t      LILLY.  COL.  LUDLOW  TO  MR  OULD. 

. 

Headquarters,  Df.p't.  o^  Va.,  7th  Armi  Corps,      t 
Fot  .    863.  $ 

Hon.  Robi  rt  <  hi,n, 

nt  for  Exchange  of   ".•  ho  \ers  : 

Sir:  As  understood  by  me,  Dr  Rucker's  alleged  offences  were 
committed  in  west  Virginia,  -within  the  territory  militarily  occupied 
at  the  time  by  the  troops  of  the  United  States.  If  so,  by  the  lawn 
and  usages  of  war,   your  authorities  have  no  jurisdiction  in  Ms  case 

Tf  you  will  release  all  our  medical  officers,  except  Dr.  Rucker,  I 
will  send  to  you  all  we  hold,  except  one,  to  be  retained  as  a  hostage 
for  Dr.  Ruckef.  who  will  be  released  when  Dr.  Rucker  is  released. 

'If  it  should  be  found  that  Dr.  Rucker  is  properly  retained  under 
the  cartel,  <:;  imd  guilty  and  punished  according  to  the  laws  and 
usages  of  war,  the  hostages  will  be  given  up.  But,  if  improperly  re- 
tained and  punished,  retaliation  will  be  resorted  to 

You  have  some  Chaplains  in  your  hands.      Will  you  deliver  them! 

Please  send  r<  plies  to  the  above  by  this  i!ag  of  truce. 
I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

wm.  u.  turn  OW, 

JAeut.  Col.)  and  Agent  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners, 


[No.  5 

Ml;.  QULD  TO  BRIG.  0EN,  MKREDJTB 

Confederate  States  of  America,  Wit  Dctai 

Richmond,  Va.,  August  16,  1865.  S 
Brig.  (mi.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Kxchangr  : 

gm     1  illy  e\ll  your   attention    to  the  correspondence  be- 

tween   Lieut.  Cbl.  Ludlow  and  myH\    in  relation  tO  Dr.  Rucker  and 


126 

ihe  detention  of  surgeons,  and  especially  to  my  communication  of  the 
23d  of  June  last.  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow,  in  his  reply,  bearing  date  July 
12,  1863,  says  :  "  As  understood  by  me,  Dr.  Rucker's  alleged  offence3 
were  committed  in  west  Virginia,  within  the  territory  militarily  occu- 
rred at  the  time  by  the  troops  of  the  United  States.  If  so,  by  the  laws 
and  usages  of  war,  your  authorities  have  no  jurisdiction  in  the  case." 

Paragragh  59,  of  your  general  order  No.  I  Oil,  does  not  make  the 
distinction  of  military  occupation  suggested  by  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow. 
It  says,  "  a  prisoner  of  war  remains  answerable  for  his  crimes  com- 
mitted against  the  captor's  army  or  people,  committed  before  he  was 
•■"aptured.  and  for  which  Jie  has  not  been  punished  by  his  own  authori- 
ties." Any  construction  which  would  not  include  such  "  crimes*'  as 
are  committed  within  the  territory  militarily  occupied  by  the  army  to 
which  the  offender  belongs,  would  leave  the  provision  almost  without 
any  meaning.  In- Dr.  Rucker's  case,  however,  the  distinction  is  with- 
out avail.  I  have  delayed  thus  long  in  answering  Lieut.  Col.  Lud- 
low's communication  of  the  12th  ultimo,  in  order  that  I  might  obtain 
accurate  information  as  to  the  faots  in  the  case. 

He  is  indicted  for  murder,  committed  on  the  23d  July,  1S61,  upon 
i  citizen  of  Virginia,  in  Covington,  Alleghany  county,  Va.  At  that 
time  no  Federal  force  was  there,  or  ever  had  been.  The  United  States 
forces  did  not  invade  that  county,  or  region  of  country ,  until  May,  1 862. 

He  is  also  indicted  for  stealing  a  horse  in  January,  1862. 

He  is  moreover  charged  with  other  offences,  committed  while  the 
Federal  forces  were  in  the  county. 

Whatever,  therefore,  may  be  the  construction  placed  upon  thegene- 
eral  order,  so  far  as  military  occupation  is  concerned,  Dr  Rucker's  case 
is  certainly  embraced  within  the  provisions  of  paragraph  59. 

I  am  also  reliably  informed  that,  at  the  time  of  at  least  some  of  the 
offences  charged  against  him,  Dr.  Rucker  had  no  connection  with  your 
army.  It  will  hardly  be  contended,  I  suppose,  that  immunity  for 
crimes  already  committed,  can  be  purchased  by  joining  the  forces  of 
an  invading  army. 

The  correspondence  between  Lieut.  Col.  Ludlow  and  myself  seems 
to  indicate  that  the  only  hindrance  to  the  immediate  and  unconditional 
release  of  all  surgeons,  is  to  be  found  in  the  detention  of  Dr.  Rucker; 
and  further,  if  such  detention  could  find  its  justification  in  your  gene- 
ral orders,  even  that  hindrance  would  be  removed.  I  therefore,  bring 
to  your  attention  the  foregoing  facts-,  drawn  from  the  indictments 
against  Dr.  Rucker,  by  which  it  very  clearly  appears  that  he  is  right- 
fully held,  and,  therefore,  Dr.  Green  wrongfully  detained  in  retaliation. 

I  accordingly  renew  to  you  the  proposition  heretofore  made  by  me, 
that  all  surgeons  now  held  on  both  sides,  with  the  exception  of  Dr.* 
Rucker,  be  released  without  delay.  I  have  no  objection  to  extend  the 
proposition  to  nurse3  and  members  of  sanitary  commissions.  I  would, 
however,  much  prefer  that  it  should  embrace  all  non-combatants. 

I  will  be  much  obliged  to  you  if  you  give  me  an  early  specific  rei  ly 
to  the  propositions  herein  contained. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  df  Exchange. 


127 

[No.  56.] 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD. ' 

Headquarters  Department  of  Virginia,  7th  Army  Corps,       ) 

Fort  Morroe,  Sep-  30,  1863.  j 

Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  of  Exchange,  Richmond,  Va.: 

Sir  :  In  the  hope  that  the  officers  of  the  medical  department,  on 
both  sides,  may  be  mutually  released,  -who  are  now  held  as  prisoners, 
t  offer  to  you  th.e  following  proposition:  "That  all  persons  of  the 
medical  departments,  distinctly  known  as  such,  held  as  prisoners  on 
either  side,  shall  be  discharged,  irrespective  of  numbers." 

If  you  will  not  agree  to  the  above,  I  propose  that  "  all  shall  be  dis- 
charged, except  one  or  more  designated  persons,  for  whom  equivalents 
may  be  retained  by  the  opposite  party.  We  designate  no  one  for  ex- 
ception." 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  MEREDITH, 
Brig.  Grn.,  and  Commissioner  for  Exchange, 


[No.  5?.] 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

C.   S.  A.,  War  Department,       ? 
Richmond,  Va.,  Oct.  2,  1863.  \  • 
Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange  .' 

Sir  :  Your  proposition  of  the  3<Uh  ultimo,  to  wit,  "  that  all  persons 
of  the  medical  departments,  distinctly  known  as  such,  held  as  prison- 
ers on  either  side,  shall  be  discharged,  irrespective  of  numbers,"  is 
substantially  a  proposition  that  the  Confederate  authorities  shall  de- 
liver to  you  Dr.  Wm.  Rucker,  who  is  now  in  the  custody  of  the  State 
of  Virginia,  for  crimes  committed  before  he  had  any  connection  with 
the  Federal  army.  If  it  does-  not  mean  that.  I-  will  3gree  to  it  most 
cheerfully.     If  it  does,  I  cannot. 

Your  alternative  proposition,  that  "  all  shall  be  discharged,  except 
one  or  more  designated  persons,  for  whom  equivalents  may  be  retained 
by  the  opposite  party,"  is  the  old  demand  that  we  should  consent  to 
the  retention  of  Dr.  Green,  or  some  other  surgeon,  in  retaliation  for 
Dr.  Wm.  Rucker.  To  that  I  cannot  agree.  We  are  either  right  or 
wrong  in  the  retention  of  Rucker.  If  right,  you  ought  not  to  hold 
in  equivalent.  If  wrong.  Rucker  should  be  delivered  up.  ^n  no 
aspect  of  the  case  should  Dr.  Green,  or  any  other  equivalent,  be 
retained. 


128 

In  my  communication  to  you  of  August  to,  last,  I  went  very  fully 
into  the  casji  of  Dr.  Backer*.  Can  a  single  statement  therein  con- 
tained, be  successfully  controverted  ?  If  not,  upon  what  grounds  can 
you  deny  our  right  to  hold  and  try  him  ?  I  will  really  be  obliged  to 
you  if  you  will  show  wherein  I  am  wrong  in  any  of  the  positions  as- 
sumed in  my  communication  of  the  30th  of  August. 

When  you  deny  our  right  to  hold  Dr.  Rueker,  or  contend  for  your 
right  to  detain  a  hostage  for  him,  am  I  to  understand  you  as  contend- 
ing that  no  officer  on  cither  side  is  to.  be  held  on  charges  preferred 
against  him  ? 

If  you  have  any  surgeon  in  confinement,  "under  charges,  let  him  be 
retained  and  tried  under  them.     'I  will  not  complain,  especially  if  they 
are  preferred  by  a  grand  jury,   as  is  the  case  with  Dr.  Rueker.     I, 
'however,  can  never  agree  that  any  surgoon  shall  be  held  as  an  equiv- 
alent or  hostage  for  Dr.  Rueker. 

Some  doubt  has  been  expressed  as  to  whether   Rueker   was    ever 
a  surgeon,  regularly  in  your  service.     How  is  it  as  to  that  ? 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OUJiD,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


CORRESPONDENCE 

Relative  to  the  Detention  <>f  Persons  captured  on  rivers  nkd 

the  high  seas. 


[No.  58.1 
BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OUI,D. 

Office  Commissioner  for  Exchange,  ) 

Fait  Mtm  oei   Vat%  July  81,   1863.  j 
Hon.  Robert  Ould, 

C  rrt'r  for  Exchange,  &'c  ,   Richmond,   Va.  : 

Si:;:  On  June  I  Oth,  1863,  the  barque' Texana,  bound  from  New 
York  lo  New  Orleans,  was  captured  and  burned  by  c ne  James  Duke 
and  some  fifteen  others,  who  were  on  board  the  steamer  Boston,  which 
Steamer  they  had  taken  possession  of  the  night  before.  The  pilot  of 
the  Texana  was  permitted  to  land,  but  the  captain  and  crew  w  sra 
taken  to  Mobile  and  from  thence  to  Richmond,  where,  ever  tince,  th?y 
•have  been  confined  in  the  Libby  prison. 

The  case  of  these  men  appears  to  me  hard  in  all  its  bearings,  and  I 
cannot  believe  that  the  authorities  at  Richmond  would  sanction  I 
irregular  procedures,  or  establish  such  an  inhuman  precei 
were  they  fully  cognizant  of  the  facts  in  the  case.  With  t  is  i=  a 
list  of  those  prisoners,  and  I  hope  you  will  use  your  best  endeavora 
for  their  immediate  release. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  MEREDITH, 
Brig.  Gen. ,  and  Commissioner  for  Exchange, 


[No.  59.] 
MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Confederate  States  of  America,  War  DEPARTMENT,  t 
Richmond,  Va.,  Aug.  1,   1863.  \ 

Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange  : 

Sir:   I   have    received    your   communication    in    reference    to  tba 
•'captain    and   crew  of  the   barque  Texana/'     In    it,  jou    sp«?.        I 
9 


130 

"irregular  procedures"  and  "inhuman  precedents."  If  you  had  been 
acquainted  with  the  action  of  your  own  authorities  in  similar  cases, 
y   ti  would  hardly  have  used  such  language. 

I  refer  you  to  the  several  communications  of  mine  to  Lieut.  Col. 
Ludlow  in  refernce  to  the  detention  of  the  masters  and  pilots  of  Con- 
federate steamers,  and  especially  to  my  endorsement,  dated  June 
fc^ih,  upon  his  application  for  the  release  of  the  officers  and  crew  of 
the  steamer  Emily.  The  "irregular  procedures"  and  "inhuman  pre- 
C<  ients"  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  action  of  the  Coi. federate  authori- 
t  The  slightest  search  will   disclose   them   elsewhere,  however. 

You  have  new  in  your  prisons  the  following  : 

Cajit.  Floyd  and  the  other  officers  and  crew  of  the  ferry  boat  De  Soto. 
They  are  in  prison  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  have  been  since  Janu- 
ary last. 

The  officers  and  crew  oi  the  schooner  Belle,  captured  last  February 
off  Charleston.      Some  ot-  the  officers  arc  now  at   Fort  Lafayette. 

The  officers  and  crew  of  the  steamer  Cuba,  captured  off  Mobile, 
1.       May.     The  captain  is  at  Key  West  in  prison. 

The  officers  and  crew  of  the  steamer  Emma  Bett,  captured  in  June 
I...  .  in  the  Sunflower  river.  Mississippi.  They  are  said  to  be  in  Camp 
Chase.     They  are  certainly  in  captivity. 

The  officers  and  crew  of  the  steamer  Brittania,  captured  off  Charles- 
ti      in  July,  1 863. 

The  officers  and  crew  of  the  schooner  Glide.  The  captain  (Perry) 
us  at  Fort  Lafayette. 

To  convince  you  more  fully  that  the  Confederate  authorities  havo 
I  sire  io  initiate    "irregular    procedures"  or  establish   "inhuman 

precdents,"  in  the  i  irection  you  indicate,  I  propose  that  the 
ofl  ;rs  and  crews  of  all  vessels  who  are  now  held  in  confinement  by 
eit]  :r  the  United  States  or  the  Confederate  States,  be  immediately 
r;  leased,  equivalents  from  the  army  to  be  given  to  the  party  which 
has  the  e:.cess.  This  proposition  practically  tests  who  favors  the 
"inegular  procedures"  and  "inhuman  precedents." 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

110.   OULD,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  6*).] 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD 

Office  Commissioner  for  Exch  vnge,      > 
Fort  Monroe,  Va.,  Sept.  27,  1863.  $ 

Bon.  Roesrt  Ould, 

Agent  of  Exchange,  Richmond,  Va.: 

8:?.  :  I  have  written  to  you  twice  in  relation  to  the  captain  and 
crew  of  the  barque  Texana.     You  say  that  you  will  release  them  if 


131 

we  will  release  prisoners  of  yours  in  like  circumstances.  We  do  not 
know  of  any  p  isoners  held  by  usv  under  similar  circumstances  ng  the 
crew  of  the  Texana.  If  you  will  refer  specifically  to  any  such  in  our 
hari'is  they  shall  be  released. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  MEREDITH. 
Brig.  Gin.,  and  Commissioner  for  Exchange. 


[No   Gl] 

MR.  OUL1)  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Confederate  States  of  America,  War  Department,      ) 

Richmond,  Va  ,  Sept.  23,  1 81) 3.  \ 

Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

Sir  :  On  the  1st.  of  August  last,  in  reply  to  your  first  communica- 
tion respecting  the  captain  and  crew  of  the  barque  Texana,  I  gave 
you  a  list  of  mx  captor  s  made  by  the  Federal  forc.es  some  or  all  of 
which  corresponded  with  that  of  the  Texana.  I  refer  you  to  the  letter 
of  August  1st.  The  captures  wore  either  made  at  sea,  or  in  our 
western  i  ivers.  The  parties  were  engaged  in  either  exterior  ot  interior 
commerce.  How  they  differ  from  the  officers  and  crew  of' the  Texana 
I  cannot  conceive.  1  then  made  you  a  proposition  in  reference  to  the 
release  of  the  officers  and  crews  of  all  vessels,  who  are  now  held  in 
confinement  by  either  the  United  States  or  Confederate  States.  You 
have  not  seen  fit  to  accept  it  I  now  make  another  proposal,  to  wit: 
that  the  officers  and  crews  of  all  merchant  vessels,  who  are  now  con- 
fined on  either  side,  be  immediately  and  unconditionally  released'. 
Either  the  proposal  made  in  my  letter  of  the  21st  ult.,  or  in  this  pre- 
sent one,  will  be  acceptable  to  me. 

Respectfullv,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  62.] 
BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Office  Commissioner  for  Ex-chance,  ) 

Fortress  Monroe ,  Va.,  Oct.  28,  18G3.  \ 

lion.  Robert  Ould, 

Agent  of  Erchangf,  Richmond,  Va.  : 

Sir:  Allow  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact,  that  the  ofTors 
and  crews  of  the  following  named  vessels  are  still  detained  in  southern 


132 

prisons.     These  captures  were  made  in  January  last,  and  the  officers 
have  been  paroled  and  exchanged.    Will  you  let  me  know  by  the  next 
flag  of  truce,  why  they  are  not  released  ? 
U.  S.  ship  "  Morning  Light." 
U.  S.  schooner  "Velocity." 
U.  S.  steamer  "  Harrit  Lane." 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

1  S.  A.  MEREDITH, 

Bri  .  Gffl,,  and  Commissioner  for  Exchange. 


[No.  63.1 
MR.  OULD  TO  BRIO.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Richmond,  Oct.  3!,  1863. 

Brigadier  General  S.  A.  Meri  imth, 

1  ,  nt  of  Exchange  : 

Sir  •  I  have  just  received  your  letter  of  the  28th  instant,  making 
inquiry  respecting  "the  officers  and  crews"  of  the  Morning  Light, 
Velocity  and  Harriet  Lane  You  first  say  they  'are  Ftill  detained 
in  southern  prisons."  You  next  say  «  the  officers  have  been  paroled 
and  exchanged."  I  really  cannot  see  how  paroled  and  exchanged 
officers  can  "still  be  detained  =in  southern  prisons."  Jf  they  have 
been  paroled  and  exchanged,  when  was  it  done  and  by  whom  ?  If  I 
have  made  any  agreement  as  to  these  parties,  I  will  fulfill  it  to  the 

11  Pt,t  PIP 

If  the  officers  and  crews  of  those  vessels  are  in  confinement,  they 
are  there  because  you  refuse  to  release  the  officers  and  crews  of  Con- 
federate vessels.  The  former  are  very  likely  to  remain  in  confine- 
ment until  you  release  the  latter,  unless  I  have  made  pome  agreement 
which  entitles  them  to  a  discharge.  I  am  not  aware  of  having  done  so. 
Respectfullly, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


CdllRESPONDENGE 

Re'ative  to  persons  held  in  confnum-ni  at  the  South  under  con- 
viction by  a  a,urt. 


[No.  64  ] 

BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH  TO  MR.  OULD. 

Fcrt  Monroe,  November  15,  1863. 

Hon.  Robert  Oui.n, 

Agent  of  Exchange,  Richmond,  Va.: 

Sir:  I  have  information  which  will  be  relied  and  acted  upon  a3 
authentic,  unless  formally  and  without  lesetve,  denied.  that  Jopeph 
Sherman  and  Edward  Ludwich,  of  the  4 < li  Maine  infantry,  were  sent 
to  the  penitentiary  fiom  Botetourt  county,  in  October.  l86u2,for  a 
term  of  years,  and  that  Andeison  Crawford,  of  a  Maryland  regiment, 
has  been  sent  to  the  penitentiary  also,  in  all  three  cases  upon  accusa- 
tions uot  recognized  as  criminal  according  to  the  laws  of  war.  A 
reasonable  time  for  receiving  information  from  the  South  will  be 
allowed,  before  giving  any  sptcial  order-  in  these  cases. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  A.  MEREDITH.* 

There  is  no  such  man  as  Crawford  in  the  penitentiary,  nor  has  ihere 
been  such  a  man  during  my  official  teim  The  other  persons  named 
are  in  the  penitentiary,  under  judgments  of  the  circuit  court  of  Bote- 
tourt, and  there  they  will  remain  during  my  term  of  Bervico. 

JOHN  LETCHER. 

November  17,  1863. 


[No.  Go.] 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

C.  S.  A.,  W»«  Department,         ) 
Richmond,  Va.,  Nov.  18,  I8G3.  j 

Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

tt  of  Exchange  : 

Sia  :    I  herewith  return  to  you  the  indorsement  of  Governor  Letcher 
upon  your  communication  of  the    loth  in -tint,   relating   to  Sherman, 


134 

Ludwiek,ar.d  Crawford.  I  also  enclose  to  you  a  copy  of  the  record  of 
the  trial  and  conviction  of  the  two  first  named,  and  a  letter  from  the 
superintendent  of  the  penitentiary.  If  you  will  inform  me  in  what 
State  Anderson  Crawford  was  convicted,  I  will  send  you  a  similar  copy 
of  the  proceedings  had  in  his  case. 

So  many  recent  and  novel  interpretations  of  the  ''laws  of  war" 
have  been  delivered,  that  I  am  at  a  loss  to  know,  from  the  ten;  r  of 
your  letter,  whether  it  is  intended  by  your  authorities  to  contest  the 
right  of  the  Comr0mweahh  of  Virginia  to  punish  persons  within  her 
jurisdiction  for  felonies.  If.  however,  your  own  general  orders  are  to 
have  any  effect,  I  suppose  paragraph  oi),  of  general  order,  No  l»)0, 
settles  the  question. 

I  have  very  frankly,  and  at  an  early  day,  responded  to  your 
inquiries.  I  hope  1  am  not  asking  too  much,  when  I  request  that  any 
"  special  orders"  which  may  be  issued  in  these  cases,  may  be  promptly 
communicated  to  me. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ROBERT  OULD, 

Agent  of  Exchange. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  GENERAL   HITCHCOCK 


[No.  60. J 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH-. 

Richmond,  Va.,  Od.  27,  18G3. 
Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Mf.kf.dith, 

Agent  of  "Exchange : 

Sir  :  I  enclose  to  you  a  memorandum  of  the  paroles  to  which  I  I 
referred  iu  several  fescnt  communications  Most  of  these  paroles, 
you  will  observe,  are  antecedent  to  May  2o,  IS  11.  The  reason  , 
these  paroles  have  not  been  heretofore  charged,  is,  that  up  to  July, 
1863,  we  had  the  advantage  of  prisoners  ami  parole.  Not  one  of 
these  paroles  is  covered  by  any  declaration  of  exchange,  except  J 
one    lately  made    by  you.      Fcr  no  one  of   them  have  I  jj 

equivalent.     All  of  them,  since    the  date  of  your  general  order  No. 
207,  were  given  in  pursuance  of  a  distinct  agreement   between    the 
commanders  of  two  opposing  armies.     I  have  meny  other  paro.h 
my  possession,  but  I  have  only  presented  those  which  are  within  the 
terms  of  your  general  orders,  according  to  their  respective  d  I  I 

understand  there  are  other  paroles  coming  within  the  s<»me  gen  I 
orders,  which  were  given  by  your  officers  and  men  on  the  other  si  !j 
of  the  Mississippi  river.  They,  as  yet,  have  not  reached  me.  W  i 
they  do,  and  when  I  show  they  are  within  the  s  :";■>  of  your  gen  I 
orders,  I  will  claim,  them.      Otherwise,  I  will -discard  th<>m. 

I  have  also  received  other  informal  paroles,  which  I  have  sent  back 
for  corroction.      These  are  also  within  the  provisions  of  youi  I 

orders.     When  they  are  returned,  1  will  claim  them  also. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exchange. 


.[No.  67.] 
M  \-T.  GEN.  Ill  BRIG*  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Washington  Omr,  D.  C,  /Vhy.  1863. 

Brig.  Gen.   S.    \.  Mrm  iutii, 

xhange  of  Prisoners  : 

Sir:   Your  communication  of  the  JHrh  ult.  baa  been  received,  for- 
warding what  "p  ,f  the  ;.  i 


136 

valid  paroles,"  claimed  by  Mr.  Ould,  with  a  copy  of  his  letter  accom- 
panying it  to  yourself,  of  the  2*tli  ulr. 

This  tabular  statement  covers  a  claim  to  iS5Mf;7  paroles  of  Federal 
Iroops,  without  distinctions  of  grade,  no  officers;  or  non-commist-ioned 
c  B  :rs  being  noticed  as  among  the  prisoners.  The  statement  professes 
to  enumerate  forty-four  places  where  captures  were  made,  with  the 
carnes  of  captors,  and  d  ites  of  captures — the  number  said  to  have 
been  captured  being  Carrie  I  out  in  figures. 

This  statement  may  include  tome  prisoners  captured  and  paroled 
according  to  the  laws  of  war,  but  if  so.  it  is  impossible  to  distinguish 
ll  i  by  any  evidence  in  he  statement  itself.  A.  few  are  said  tc  have 
Ik  i  '•  receipted  for"  at  Baton  Rouge,  January  11,  1863,  and  Feb* 
rua  y  14,  1863,  which  may  be  verified,  and  some  evidences  may  come 
to  light  confirming  the  alleged  capture*  by  Generals  Lee,  Bragg,  and, 
possibly,  some  others;  but,  ou  the  whole,  the  statement  is  unsatis- 
factory, and  ia  its  present  form,  is  regarded  a-  without  credit,  and 
nol  entitled  to  conei  leration. 

The  statement  does  not  show,  in  any  one  instance,  by  whom  the 
pr  :  mers  were  received,  or  to  whom,  or  even  where,  they  were  de- 
li ed,  leaving  it  to  be  presumed  that  they  were,  for  the  turst  part, 
|>  led  on  the  instant  of  capture,  without  authority  under  the  cartel, 
in  not  being  "reduced  to  actual  possession,"  -contrary  to  bo t h  the 
1  '       of  war.  as  set  forth  in  order  No.  l!>0, of  18*  3,  and  the  provisions 

0  '  the  cartel.  Order  No.  100  merely  publishes  the  laws  of  war,  and 
the  cartel  is  entirely  in  harmony  with  it. 

The  orders  on  this  subject  subsequently  issued,  and  to  which  Mr. 
Opl  I  appeals,  were  expressly  designed  to  invc  effect  to  those  laws  and 
to  the  cartel,  and  were  in  no  manner  intended  to  abrogate,  and  neither 
do  they  abrogate  or  modify  the  one  or  the  other. 

If  the  enemy  wishes,  in  good  faith,  to  carry  out  the  orders  he  refers 
to,  the  proper  course  would  be  to  issue  simitar  orders,  and  for  a  like 
|  >se,  in  which  case  there  might  be  some  hope  of  a  compliance 
v  i.  '    both  the  cartel  and  the  laws  of  War. 

Mr.  Ould's  effort  to  have  recognized  certain  paroles  as  valid,  which 

1  been  informally  and  improperly  made,  embracing,  so  far  as  wo 
Can  know  from  his  statements,  many  citizen*  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee, 
and  elsewhere,  (no  particular  placed  being  named  in  some  instances,) 
by  ppeaiing  to  northern  orders,  is  a  mere  perversion  of  the  clear  and 
manifest  design  of  those  orders,  that  design  being,  as  already  stated, 
to  enforce,  and  not  to  nullify  the  laws  of  war.  We  appeal  to  those 
frrders,  and  intend  to  be  guided  by  the,m,  and  if  the  enemy  would 
assume  them,  and  be  governed  by  them  al-o.  all  difficulties  on  t he 
Subject  of  paroles  would  cease.  By  Mr.  Quid's  mo  ie  of  application 
Or  misapplication  of  those  orders,  he  would  use  them  to  destroy,  and 
not  enforce  the  laws  of  war. 

The  laws  of  war  are  first  iu  order,  imposing  obligations  upon  bel- 
ligerents, and  they  continue  to  be  obligatory  upm  both  parties,  unless 
modified  by  a  special  agreement  under  a  cartel,  which,  when  agreed 
upon,  becomes  the  highest  authority  in  all  specified  cases  included  in 
the  cartel,  leaving  the  l«ws  of  war  in  full  operation  in    all  cases  not 


137 

provided  for  in  such  cartel — a  cartel  being  analogous  to  a  treaty  of 
commerce  between  nations,  which  ma v  mn  lify  the  natural  lawn  of 
trade  or  commerce,  binding  both  parties  'o  the  treaty. 

T  ie  orders  of  a  general  in  the  field,  or  »f  n  general  in-chiel  of  one 
of  the  belligerents,  is  onl}'  operative  within  the  field  of  the  general^ 
command,  and  can  have  n<>  effect  10  modify  either  the  law*  of  wir  or 
the  provisions  of  a  particular  cartel.  Such  orders  are  puitdy  discip- 
linary in  the  army  where  issued,  and  can  neither  hind  an  enemy,  nor 
can  an  enemy  appeal  to  them  to  justify  hi<  deptrturt  front,  or  viola- 
tion of,  either  a  particular-cartel  or  the  lawtfef  war.  A  departure 
from  such  an  order  within   the  army  subject  bo  the  an*  issuing 

the  order,  migh'  Mihjeet  the  offender   to  punishment  within    ins  o  va< 
army,  but  could  not  be  appealed  to  to  make  a  parole  valid,  wiinth.  by 
the  laws  of  war.  or  by  the  provisions  of  a  particular  cartel,  w<i 
disowned  as  not  valid. 

While  we  set  forth  these  principles  as  binding,  we  deny,  emphati- 
cally. tlii1-  the  orders  appealed  to  by  Mr.  Ould  sanction  his  departure 
from  the  laws  of  war  or  the  cartel — the  express  purpose  of  order  No. 
2'»T  (lf6'J)  bein ^  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  the  existing  earr<  1  It 
sets  out  by  an  appeal,  in  paragraph  1.  to  the  cartel,  by  its  date  »nd 
tin-   date  el'  the  older    by  which    it  was    published,  the    p  of 

which  are  to  he  enforced,  and  this  is  again  Bet  forward  in  pun  rraph 
II.  Order  No.  2n?  publishes  a  Very  impoitant  law  of  war  in  piiiagr.iph 
II.  in  announcing  that  "  th  •  obligations  imposed  by  tfa  gen  r»d  liws 
and  usages  of  war  upon  the  non-combatant  inhabitants  of  a  section  of 
country  passed  overlay  an  invading  army,  cease  when  the  in  Hilary  oc- 
cupation <easc>;  and  anv  pledge  or  parole  given  by  sin  ii  persons,  in 
regard  to  future  service,  is  null  arid  of  no  effect  "  This  paragraph  of 
order  No.  2)?.  docs  not,  originate,  it  merely  announces  the  law  id  war 
on  the  suV.rt  to  which  it  refers,  hut  it  is  particularly  signifh  art  in 
View  of  the  probable  char  cter  of  many  of  the  paroles  claimed  »*  valid 
in  the  tabular  statement  furnished  by  M«*.  Ould,  in  which,  und  -r  the 
head  of  •*  where  captured,"  the  statement  uses  generalities  which  ran 
in  no  sense  be  received.  Thus,  captures  are  §W\(\  to  have  r»c«*n  made 
in  ••  Kentucky  and  Tennessee ;"  in  'Teim  in  "  Kentucky  and 

Teune-ise  ■."  [-again ;)  in  "  Tennessee,"  (again;)  in  "Kentu-ky  and 
Tenue*3i«r,"  (a  third  time;)  in  (t  Barbour  coanty,  Kentucky. ''  (-wither 
soldiers  or  citizens  we  eann  >t  tell  )  in  uWesteni  Yirg'ni  i ;"  in  "Xk  wttwn 
Virginia."  (again;)  in  "  Hinds  county.  Mi.-  .--is  lippi  ;"  in  •*  Ivisu-hi  \  ir- 
gmia;"   in  ,  ,'"   in "  Kentucky   and  Tenni  I  »r   the 

fourth  time,)  &c. 

Ju  fin"!,  tho  statement  s  wholly  informal  and  without  authori  y. 

You  will  pie  i  a  furnish  Mr.  Ould  a  lertitied  copy  of  this  coiuiuuni- 
tation.  Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

e.  a.  nn 

Mnj   Cen.  Voli,  and  '  loner  for  '  I  .  ••»  n  is. 

i 

FoItT    M  '  .  " 

A  true  c  8.   A.  MEREDI  ill. 

'  e.    '* 


133 

[No.  68.] 

MR,  OULD  TO    BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

C.    S     A.,  War  Department,  > 

Richmond,  V,,,  Nov.  21,  1863.  \ 
Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

Sir  :  I  have  received  the  letter  or'  General  Hitchcock  relating  to 
the  memorandum  of  paroles  which  I  forwarded  to  you. 

General  Hitchcock  seems  to  have  misapprehended  my  purpose 
somewhat  in  sending  you  tint  memorandum.  You  requested  a  list 
of  the  paroles  whl  h  I  claimed,  and  the  paper  which  I  sent  to  you  was 
only  intended  to  be  understood  as  a  memorandum  in  the  way  of  notice 
to^ou.  I  did  not  expect  you  to  agree  to  recognize  the  p  troles  therein 
referred  to  in  s-uch  a  general  way,  upon  the  mere  presentation  of  the 
paper.  The  evidence  which  supports  that  memorandum  <{  paroles  is 
on  file  in  my  office.  If  we  could  only  have  agreed  upon  the  principle 
by  which  they  should  be  computed  and  adjusted,  all  the  rest  would 
have  been  easy  work.  I  would  have  presented  the  paroles  then  selves 
or  authenticated  lists  of  them.  The-  fact  that  the\  Ave  re  given,  the 
circumstances  under  Avhich  they  Avere  given,  the  parties  giving  them, 
would  all  appear  upon  the  fnce  of  the  papers  in  proper  form.  As 
General  Hitchcock  seems  to  indicate  a  Avillingness  to  re-open  this 
matter,  I  will  state  for  his  benefit  frankly,  the  principles  by  which  I 
propose  to  be  governed. 

1  I  will  not  chum  the  paroles  of  citizens.  All  the  paroles  Avhich 
I  will  produce  will  be  those  of  Federal  soldiers  in  actual  service  at  the 
time  of  captrre. 

2.  I  will  show  the  particular  locality  where  the  parties  Avere  cap- 
tured, the  command  to  which  they  belong,  the  command  which 
captured  them,  and  the  precise  date  of  each  transact h  n. 

3.  1  Avill  accompany  the  presentation  with  such  full  and  particular 
evidence  as  Avill  enable  you  to  verily  the  truth  of  the  case  by  your 
own  records  and  ihe  statements  of  your  own  officers  and  soldiers. 

4.  *loie  than  thirty  of  the  forty- four  Uems  in  my  memorandum  are 
cases  of  captures  made  previous  to  the  22d  Ma}',  1863.  It  has  never, 
at  any  time,  been  alleged  tha'i  I  hud  any  notice  before  that  time  'hat 
paroling  upon  the  battle  field  was  not  to  be  permitted.  The  Federal 
authorities  have  charged  again>t  me  parole^  taken  upon  the  bat  tie 
field  up  to  that  date,  and  have  received  credit  for  them.  I  would  have 
received  credit  for  these  items  many  months  ago  if  you  had  have  had 
paroles  or  prisoners  of  ours  to  have  offsetted  against  them.  I  mill 
thank  General  Hitchcock  to  inform  me,  upon  what  principle  he  can 
reject  those  thirty-odd  items.  If  he  wants  evidence  that  I  have 
allowed  precisely  similar  paroles,  I  will  furnish  it. 

o.  As  to  such  of  the  paioles  as  Avere  given  between  the  22d  May, 
1S63,  and  the  3d  of  July,  (the  date  of  general  order,  No.  2)7,)  I  shall 


139 

contend  that  they  shall  be  allowed  under  the  provisions  of  paragraph 
13 1,  of  general  order,  No.  KKl.  I  will  allow  any  similar  paroles 
given  to  you  during  the  same  period. 

6.  As  to  all  paroles  given  af"tor  the  3d  of  July,  lc63,  I  will  allow 
general  order,  No.  207.  to  hive  full  force.  No  paroles  from  and  after 
thai  date  are  to  be  valid  unless  the  paroling  is  in  pursuance  of  the 
agreement  of  the  commanders  of  two  opposing  armies. 

7.  In  my  memorandum  the  officers  ami  non-commissioned  officers 
are  reduced  to  privates  There  are  but  very  few,  if  any,  commissioned 
officer?  on  the  lists.  They  have  alreoly  been  exchanged  and  checked 
off.  This  is  of  itself  proof* that  your  authorities  have  heretofore 
recognized  these  paroles.  The  lists  and  par. <Ls  will  show  the  grade 
01  all  the  patties. 

•;.  I  have  been  greatly  misunderstood  by  General  Hitchcock,  if  he 
thinks  I  have  refused  to  be  governed  by  your  general  orders.  Gen. 
Hitchcock  says:  "we  appeal  to  those  orders,  and  intend  to  be  gov- 
erned by  them,  and  if  the  enemy  would  assum  •  them,  and  be  governed 
by  them  also,  all  difficulties  on  the  subject  of  paroles  would  cease." 
I  ha\'e  ill  ready  expressed  my  willingness  to  bo*  governed  by  your  gen- 
eral orders'"  on  the  subject  of  paroles."  It  was  my  original  proposi- 
tion      I  adhere  to  it  still.      Let,  then,   "all  difficulties  cease." 

!•.  If  our  present  difficulties  are  to  cease,  let  me  for  the  sike  of 
future  harmony  suggest  lhat  there  be  some  definitive  meaning  attached 
to  the  phrase  "commanders  of  two  opposing  armies."  Whoaro  such 
c.omin*nders?  We  can  readily  understand  that  General  Lee  and  Gen- 
eral Meade  are  such.  But  is  General  Thonvts  the  eommmder  •  l"  one 
of  the  •  pposing  armies  at  Chattanooga,  or  is  it  General  Grant?  Was 
General  IVmberton  the  commander  of  an  opposing  army,  when  be 
was  puhp'd  to  the  orders  of  General  Johnston  who  was  in  his  imme- 
diate neighborhood?  Was  General  Gardiner  tho  comm inder  of  an 
opposing  army  at  Port  Hudson  ?  if  so,  is  not  every  one  who  holds  a 
b  para  ftf  command,  sUch  >i  commander?  Does  size  constitute  an  array  ? 
If  a  Capt.'iin  or  Lieutenant  is  on  detached  service,  is  he  the  commander 
of  an  opp  >>ing  army,  an  I  ran  he  be  released  on  parole  by  an  a 
ment  made  with  the  officer  wlio  captured  him.  if  he  also  is  on 
service?  1  make  these  inquiries  of  General  Hitchcock  in  no  captious 
spirit.  They  do  present  dilfi  ulties  to  my  mind,  and  I  should  like  to 
know  what  is  to  be  considered  as  the  true  interpretation  of  the  phrase. 
All  the  captures  after  the  3d  of  duly,  l-ui;>,  which  1  ask  you  to 
recognize,  were  in  pursuance  of  "an  agreement  between  the  com- 
manders (if  two  opposing  armies."  I  cannot,  see  how  any  difficulty 
can  arise    between   General    Hi'chcock    and   myself  afres*   Ins   letter, 

pt  as  to  capures   between   May    JM,  1463,  and  July   3d,  I 
They  are  but  very  few  in  iniin'icr. 

I  will  thank  jou  to  send  this  letter  or  a  copy  of  it  to  General 
Hitchcock. 

Respectfully,  vour  obedient  servant, 

RO,  OULD. 
Agent  of  Exchange. 


140 

\To.  69.] 

MAJ.  GEN  HITCHCOCK  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Washington  City,   Dec.   2Sth,  1863. 

Brig  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith. 

yoinr  for  Exchange  of  Prisonrrs  : 

Sir  :  I  have  read  the  copy  you  forwarded  of  Mr.  OuM's  communica- 
tion (if  the  ■_>  1st  inst.„in  which,  1  perceive,  Mr.  Ould  thinks  I  misappre- 
hended Ins  purpose  in  forwa.dmg  the  "tubular  statement''  of  alleged 
valid  paioles  madechiefly  in  th.-  West  and  South.  I  supposed  that  the 
lobular  sttUrrwnt  was  sent  to  yon  in  explanation  of  the  large  number 
of  prisom-r*  declared  exchanged  by  Mr.  Ould,  the  propriery  of  which 
had  been  veiy  pi opei ly  questioned  by  you.  If  that  was  nut  the  pur- 
pose of  tii.'  statement,  1  regret  that  it  fell  under  my  notice.  If  Mr. 
Ould  wishes  either  to  present  another  "statement-,"  or  to  furnish 
detailed  explanations  of  that  already  before  us,  it  will  be  time  enough 
to  consi  lei  fiie  points  he  may  raise  when  he  presents  them.  In  the 
meantime.  1  think  itnecessary  to  observe  that  neither  Mr.  Ould,  your- 
self, nor  in-self,  have  poweis  outside  of  the  cartel,  except  those  plainly 
iiceessa»v  f  the  execution  of  iis  provisions;  but,  in  this  connection, 
I  Diifst  affinn  that  the  first  shock  given  to  the  free  and  continued  exe- 
cution ot  ri  ■  provisions  of  t h<-  cartel,  came  from  Mr.  Davis  in  his 
"uu  s-age  of  rhe  12th  of  January,  of  the  present  year,  in  which  he 
declares  his  purpose  of  delivery  to  the  several  State  authorities  South, 
all  commissioned  officers  of  the  Federal  army  who  might  be  captured, 
to  he  tiied.  under  State  laws,  for  the  crime  of  exciting  servile  insur- 
reciou.  This  stands  yet  s  the  avowed  purpose  of  th"  chief  execu- 
tive of  the  M;it«-s  engaged  in  the  lehellion.  It  1ms  not  been  annulled 
in  any  fun  whatever.,  nor  has  the  act  of  the  southern  Congress,  in 
support  <>t  \!c.  Davis' views,  been  in  any  manner  replied  or  disa- 
\owed.  Without  looking  any  further,  I  appeal  to  this  as  a  full  justi- 
fication of  the  Federal  commander  in-chief  in  suspending  the  opera- 
tion of  that  portion  of  article  four,  of  the  cartel,  wh  ch  iei|uires  "all 
]  risoiit -rs  of  «ar  to  be  discharged  on  parole  in  ten  <!a\s  after  their 
capture."  it,  being  manifest,  that  the  authorities  South  could  not  parole 
prisoners  according  to  the  cartel,  and  carry  out  their  declared  pur- 
pose of  delivering  the  office-  over  to  State  authorities  to  be  tried  as 
criminals under  State  laws.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  reason  why 
the  declare  I  jiurpo.se  of  Mr.  Davis  has  not  been  extensively  carried 
into  effect,  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  that  purpose,  sanctioned  a3  we 
know  it  t>>  have  been,  is  a  suffi  ient  reason  on  our  part  for  not  deliver- 
ing pi isoneis  on 'parole,  particularly  as  there  is  every  rea-on  to  believe 
that  the  purpose  of  Mr.  Davis  has  only  been  arrested  by  the  fact, 
that,  b\  the  fortune  of  wat,  we  had  in  our  hands  more  prisoners  than 
were  held  in  the  South.  In  addition  to  the  above,  the  treatment  of 
colored  troops,  which  make  an  integral  portion  of  the  Federal  army, 
when  captured  in  the  South,  is  too   well    known    to    permit   us   for  a 


141 

moment  to  suppose,  in  the  present  state  of  things,  that  there  is  any 
design  in  the  S<»uth  to  treat  that  class  of  troops  according  to  the  laws 
of  war,  applicable  to  other  troops  of  the  Federal  army  ;  and  until 
the  southern  authorities  ma*ke  some  distinct  declaration  oi  ;i  purpose 
to  treat  colored  troops  and  their  office  s,  in  the  employment  of  the 
United  States  Government,  in  all  reap  i-ts,  according  to  the  Uw<  oi 
•war,  as  applicable  to  other  troops,  wc  i  ann  >t  recede  from  th-  position 
taken  by  the  commander-in-chief  above  ref'e  red  to.  The  wi-domu-nd 
the  neces.-ity  of  e\i>t in »  orders  on  tlii^  <oi  ject,  will  sufficiently  defend 
the  measure,  m  view  of  the  threats  an  I  practices  of  the  South,  which 
only  need  to  be  known  to  justify  tlii    in  -asure. 

It  is  verv  well  known  that  Gol  »nel  Ludlow  made  these  subjects  the 
frequent  topic  <>:'  conversation  with  Mi  Ould,  without  ptoluciug  any 
impression  on  Mr  O  ild,  tending  to  i  ie  .mint,  of  inducing  ;t  declara- 
tion, by  authu  iiy,  from  the  South,  ihat  all  officers  of  ih-  Federal 
army,  as  well  a-i  ;;i!;s-el  men,  shall  receive,  when  capture  I.  'lie' 
moot  due  to  prisoners  of  war,  W'th  >lir  <[>i".:s  declaration  that  colored 
troops,  both  officers  and  men,  shall  re  eive  similar  treat m 

You   will   plunse   communicate    these    views   to    Mr.    Ould,    with    a 
request  that  he  will  lay  them  bef>rc  hi      rovernment. 
Very  :  -spectfully,  your  oh    lit  nt  servant, 

E.   A.  HITCHCOCK, 
Major  Gen.    Vols,  ami  Co-.missioner  foi  Exchange. 


A  true  copy. 


S.  A.  MEREDITH, 

Brigadier  General  and  Commissioner  of  Exchange. 


[No.  70.] 
M  U.  GEN    HITCHCOCK  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Washington  Citv,  D.  C, 


shington  City,    I).   0.,  > 
November  1;),  1863.       \ 


Brig.  Gen.  S.  A    Mi. reditu, 

i  m  knottier  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners  : 

Si  ;  :  I  am  not  yet  informed  whether  any,  or  how  far,  relief  may 
have  reached  our  unfortunate  prisoners  of  war  in  Richmond  and  its 
vicinity,  under  the  orders  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  to  sen  I  supplies 
to  thera  of  both  food  and  clothing. 

Meantime,  it  is  proper  and  necessary  that  Mr.  Ould  should  be 
notified,  for  the  information  of  his  Government,  that  whatever  sUps 
may  Inn'1  been,  or  may  be  taken  thus  t-o  extend  relief,  must,  on  no 
oonsiderati  n,  be  appealed  to  by  the  enemy  to  relieve  him  from  the 
obligation  to  treat  prisoners  of  war  according  to  the  laws  of  civilized 
warfare, 

If,  in  other  words,  our  prisoners  in  Richmond  fail  to  receive  sueh 


142 

supplies  as  the  laws  alike  of  humanity  and  war  require,  the  authori- 
ties o  Richmond  must  he  informed,  that  it  will  not  be  considered  a 
valid  explanation  or  excuse  for  them  to  appeal  to  the  fact,  should  it 
exist,  that  supplies  from  us  have  not  reached  them. 

The  action  of  our  Government  in  this  matter  i;  dictated  purely  hy 
humanity,  and  is  only  an  effort  to  relieve  our  prisoners  from  suffering 
inflicted  upon  them  contrary  to  the  claims  of  both  humanity  and  ihe 
laws  of  war,  and  must  not  be  understood  as  relieving  the  authorities 
at  Rtehmondifrora  responsibility  to  the  Christian  world  in  the  premises. 
1\'  the  authorities  in  Richmond  will  semi  us  these  prisoners  we  will 
not  only  feed  and  clothe  them,  but  will  c  -ntinue  to  supply  food  and 
clothing  as  heretofore  to  such  prisoners  as  may  be  in  our  possession} 
and  you  will  propose  to  Mr.  Ouid,  tint,  in  this  case,  we  will  agree 
without  any  reserve,  to  respect  the  parole  they  may  give  according  to 
the  laws  of  war,  from  which  they  shall  u<>t  be  relieved  in  view  of  p  ist 
differences  or  pending  questions  on  the  subject  of  exchange,  without 
the  previously  obtained  consent  of  the  authorities  represented  by  Mr. 
Ould,  as-a.ent  for  exchanges,  under  the  cartel. 

You  will  please  lose  no  tune  in  communicating  a  copy  of  this  note, 
certified  by  yourself  to  Mr.  Ould.  and  will  urge  upon  him  its  accept- 
ance, as  due  to  the  most  solemn  considerations  in  the  -face  of  the 
civilized  world. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

B.  A.  HITCHCOCK, 
Maj.  Gen.  Vols.,  a?id  Commissioner  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 
Fort  Mo.mioe,  Va.,  Nov.  15,  1863. 
A  true  copy. 
S.  A.  Meredith,  Brig.  Gen.  anf Commissioner  for  Exchung". 


[No.   71.] 

MR.  OULD  TO  BRIG.  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Confederate  States  of  America,  War  Department.       ) 

Richmond,  Va.,  Nov.  18,  1863.  \ 

Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Agent  of  Exchange : 

Sir  :  The  letter  of  General  Hitchcock  has  been  received. 

Until  the  Confederate  authorities  appeal  to  be  released  "  from  the 
obligation  to  treat  prisoners  of  war  according  to  the  laws  of  civilized 
warfare,"  or  offer  as  "an  explaration  or  excuse"  for  insufficient  food 
that  supplies  have  not  been  forwarded  by  your  Government,  it  is 
entirely  unnecessary  to  discuss  what  will  be  the  views  of  your 
authorities  in  either  contingency. 

Statements,  most  infamously  false,  have  recently  been  made  and 
circulated  at  the  North,  by  persons  whose  calling  should  have  imposed 


143 

a  respect  for  truth,  which  their  own  personal  honor  seems  to  have 
failed  to  secure.  Our  regulations  require  tint  prisoners  shall  receive 
the  same  rations  as  soldiers  in  the  field.  Such  your  prisoners  have 
received  and  will  continue  to  receive.  Do  you  ask  more?  IT  so, 
what  do  you  demand  ?  We  recognise,  in  the  fullest  form,  our  obliga- 
tion to  treat  your  prisoners  with  humanity,  and  to  serve  them  with 
the  same  food,  in  quantity  and  quality,  as  is  given  to  our  o«n  sol- 
diers. If  the  supply  is  scanty,  you  have  only  to  blame  the  system  of 
warfare  you  have  waged  against  us.  There  is  nothing  in  the  action 
of  the  Confederate  Government  which  gives  any  sort  of  couu  euanco 
to  the  charge  of  cruelty  or  inhumanity  to  your  prison  :rs.  hi  the 
first  place,  we  have  importuned  you  to  agree  to  a,  fair  and  honest 
proposition  which  would  secure  the  release  of  all  of  them  When 
.that  was  rejected,  you  have  been  permitted  to  send,  without  sunt  or 
limitation,  all  kinds  of  supplies  to  them. 

General  Hitchcock  requests  that  the  prisoners  now  in  our  hands  be 
returned  to  your  lines.  This  is  not  accompanied  with  any  proposition 
to  release  our  prisoners  now  in  your  hands.  So  far  from  that  being  the 
case,  he  promises  to  "  contii  ue  to  supply  food  and  clothing  as  hereto- 
fore'' to  such.  General  Hitchcock  need  not  have  urged  you  to  "  lose 
no  time  in  communicating  "  his  letter.  No  degree  of  haste  would  have 
secured  the  assent  of  the  Confederate  authorities  to  a  proposition  so 
flagrantly  unequal.  We  are  ready  to  relieve  your  Government  from 
the  burthen  of  supplying  "food  and  clothing  as  heretof ire,"  to  our 
people  in  your  hands,  and  if  they  are  sent  to  us,  yours  shall  be 
returned  to  you — the  excess  on  one  side  or  the  other  to  be  on  parole. 
I  hope  you  will  "urge"  upon  General  Hitchcock  the  acceptance  of 
this  proposition  "  as  due  to  the  most  solemn  considerations  in  the  face 
of  the  civilized  world."  We  are  content  that  the  "civilized  world" 
should  draw  its  own  conclusions  when  it  contrasts  the  two  oilers.  I 
will  thank  you  to  forward  this  communication  to  General  Hitchcock, 
or  inform  him  that  the  Confederate  authorities  decline  to  accept  his 
proposition. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

RO.   OULD, 
Agent  of  Exchange. 


[No.  72.] 
GEN.  HITCHCOCK  TO  GEN.  MEREDITH. 

Washington  Citv,  D.^.,  Nov.  23d,  1863. 

Brig.  Gen.  S.  A.  Meredith, 

Commissioner  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners  : 

Sir  :  Your  note  forwarding  a  copy  of  Mr.  Ould's  letter  of  the  18th 


144 

instant,  addressed  to  yourself,  as  an  answer  to  my  letter  of  the  13th, 
has  been  received.  Mr.  Ould,  I  perceive,  states  that  our  prisoners  in 
Richmond  receive  "the  same  rations  as  solliers  in  the  field,"  accord- 
ing to  the  regulations." 

The  •  regulations  "  may  he  such  ns  Mr.  Ould  states  them  to  be,  hut 
th  it  our  prisoners  receive  ''rations"  as  state  I,  is  contradicted  by 
alt  of  ihe  ■  vidence  that  has  reached  me  outside  of  Mr.  Quid's  state- 
ment; and, the  evidence  rests  upon  the  statements  of  eye  witnesses 
and  of  actual  suftVrers  under  the  treatment  received  in  Richmond  and 
at  Belle  I-k\  besides  the  testimony  of  facts  disclose  by  the  visible 
condition  of  t,  delivery  of  some  one  hundred  and  eighty  prisoners 
Hiadf  at  Gity  Point,  many  of  whom  died,  before  reaching  Fort  Mon- 
roe, from  starmtion,  according  to  the  judgnu-nt  of  a  competent  medi- 
cal officer. 

Up'*n  the  evidence  above  stated,  the  Secretary  of  War  ordered 
plies  to  be  sent  for  the  distribution  to  the  remaining  prisoners  ;  and 
this  <;.ite  of  things  induced  the  letter  of  the  I3ih  instant,  proposing 
to  receive  on  parole  the  prisoners,  and  to  hold  them  off  duty  until  ex- 
changed, independently  of  all  existing  difficulties  on  the  subject  of 
excti.: 

Mr.  Duld  lecline3  this  offer  and  proposes  Unit,  if  we  will  send  to 
the  South  t!v  prisoners  in  oar  hands,  they  will  sen!  ou<\s  to  u%  "the 
exc(  iC  side  or  the  other  to  he  on   parole  " 

Wh  :.  vcr  appearance  of  verbal  fairness  there  may  b?  in  this,  the 
condu  nf  Mr.  Ould,  in  fonnecrion  with  recent  declarations  of  ex- 
change ''ill  not  permit  us  to  regard  this  proposal  as  made  in  good 
faith   and  v  e  cannot  rely  upon  its  being  carried  out  by  the  enemy. 

In  tl  ••  first  place,  the  proclamation  of  Mr.  Davis,  and  other  public 
act«  of  those  in  power  in  the  South,  remain  in  full  force,  so  far  as  we 
know,  and  are  actually  being  enforced  in  the  South,  by  which  distinction 
is  ma'"1*  between  classes  of  troops  employed  by  the  United  Stated  and 
officer,  serving  with  colored  troops,  if  taken  prisoners,  do  not  receive 
and  are  not  to  receive  the  treatment  due  to  prisoners  of  war,  whilst 
the  enlisted  men  of  colored  troops,  when  taken  prisoners,  it  has  been 
publicly  declared,  shall  be  Bold  into  slavery. 

That  his  distinction  is  m  ide  actual,  in  the  treatment  of  prisoners 
of  war,  we  know  in  some  ctses,  and  have  much  reason  to  apprehend 
it  in  others,  which  have  not  teen  permitted  to  see  the  light.  YVehavc 
positive  information  of  the  fact,  that  two  colored  seamen  of  the  United 
States  marine  were  captured  near  Charleston,  and  were  not  treated  as 
prisoners  of  war. 

Two  free  colored  young  men,  with  a  Massachusetts  regiment,  were 
captuted  near  Galveston  and  publicly  sold  into  slavery. 

In  a  recent  case  I  made  a  proposal  to  release,  mutually,  all  chap- 
lains ;  and  the  proposal  was  "  cheerfully  accepted ;"  but,  :  lthough 
we  delivered  about  or  more  than  twice  the  number  we  reoeived,  the 
enemy  held  back  the  chaplain  of  a  Massachusetts  colored  regiment  who 
was  confined  and  in  irons  at  Columbia,  S.  C. 

In  addition  to  these  facts,  Mr.  Ould,  not  long  since,  declared  that  he 
would  proceed  to  make  declarations  of  exchange  whenever  he  con- 


145 

scientiously  felt  that  he  had  the  right  to  do  so,  for  the  purpose  of 
putting  men  into  the  field. 

If  this  announcement  means  anything  at  all,  it  means  that  the 
usages  of  war,  and  the  express  provisions  of  the  cartel,  arc  subordi- 
nate to  the  individual  determination  and  purposes  of  Mr.  Ould  on  the 
subject  of*  declarations  of  exchange  ;  and,  as  a  consequence,  wo  must 
suppose  that  if  Mr.  Ould  can  obtain  possession  of  the  "  excess  "  of 
prisoners,  now  in  our  possession,  he  wil!  "  proceed  "  to  declare  them 
exchanged,  and  put  them  into  the  field,  upon  what  he  might  allege  as 
his  sense  of  right.  When  called  upon  for  an  explanation  he  would 
prepare  what  he  might  call  a  ;'  tabular  statement  of  paroles,"  as  he 
recently  did,  made  up  from  guerilla  captures  of  citizens  in  remote 
parts  of  the  country,  set  down  as  captured  places  as  Kentucky, 

as  Tennessee,  as  Mississippi,  or  at  such  a  place  as  Ken tucky  and  Tennes- 
see, not  in  any  instance  properly  reporting  to  whom  delivered.  Mr. 
Ould  has  shown  the  latitudinarian  construction  he  puts  upon  his  pow- 
ers, and  the  nature  of  his  sense  of  right,  by  writing  a  letter  on  the  I Oth 
of  Oct.  which  he  has  not  thought  it  necessary  to  communicate  to  us, 
but  which  has  been  published  in  a  Richmond  paper,  by  which  he  took 
upon  himself  the  power  to  declare  that  the  whole  number  of  men  de- 
livered by  General  Banks,  at  Mobile,  embracing  several  thousand  men, 
captured  at  Port  Hudson,  were  under  no  obligation  to  preserve  their 
parole. 

Mr.  Ould  has  been  a  mere  agent  under  the  cartel,  and  when  a. 
question  comes  up  as  to  the  import  of  the  cartel,  its  meaning,  &c, 
Mr.  Ould  has  no  power  to  decide  the  question,  for  that  belongs  to  the_ 
parties  by  whose  authority  the  cartel  was  made. 

The  cartel  provided  two  places  for  the  delivery  of  prisoners  of  war, 
Ci^y  Point  and  Vicksburg;  but  it  provided,  also,  that  when  these 
places,  or  either  of  them,  should  become  unavailable  by  the  exigencies 
of  war,  some  other  point  might  be  agreed  upon. 

Vicksburg,  having  fallen  into  our  hands,  became  unavailable,  as 
contemplated  by  the  cartel,   and   Gen.   Banks  nth   the   rebel 

commander  in  the  field  rhat  Gen.  Banks  would  deliver  the  Port 
Hudson  prisoners  on  parole,  and  they  were  delivered  accordingly. 

Mr.  Ould  knew  that  those  men  were  unconditionally  in  the  hands 
of  Gen.  Banks.  I  been  "reduced  to  po  ,"  and  had  been 

taken  to  IS  been  sent  north,  il  mks, 

had   pleased.     Instead  em  to  the  North   to  swell    the 

number  of  prit  .'  war,  in  our  haj  :  North,   (Jen.   Banks 

confided  in  the  honor  o  ed"   to   ] 

those  men  ie,  Vickj  v   the   exigencies   of  war,  no 

longer  availal  ;  delivery. 

In  that  state  of  r.  Ould  takes  upon  himself  to  decide  that 

the  delivery  at  Mobile  was  invalid,  that  place  not  being  named  in  tho 
cartel  for  the  delivery  iers. 

With  a  -  t  so  obtuse,  as  this  act  indicates,  it  is  doing  no 

injustice  to  Mr.  Ould  to  say  that  we  cannot  confi  Ie  in  any  pledge  ho 

would  make  to  carry  out  a  special  agreement,  and  we  mu  ingly 

decline  to  acquiesce  in  any  measure  which  would  throw  into  his  hands 

10 


146 

a  large  body  of  prisoners  of  war  under  parole,  to  be  by  him  released 
from  its  obligations  according  to  his  sense  of  right, 

You  will  understand  from  the  above  statements  that  Mr.  Ould'e 
decision  touching  the  prisoners  delivered  by  Gen.  Banks,  is  not 
recognized  as  justifiable  or  valid,  and  that  wo  claim  that  they  are  still 
prisoners  of  war  on  parole. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

E.  A.  HITCHCOCK, 
\l«j.  Gen.  of  Vol..  and  GonCr  for  Exchange  of  V 


THE    0  A  RTF,  I. 


EIaxall's  Landing,  on  James  River,  >' 
July  22,  1863. 

The  under;  igned  having  been  commissioned  by  the  authorities- they 

ctivcly  represent,  to  make  arrangements  for  a  general  exchange 
of  prisoners  _of  war,  have  agreed  to  the  following  articles  : 

Article  1.  It  is  hereby  agreed  and  stipulated,  that  all  prisoners  of 
war  held  by  cither  party,  including  those  taken  on  private  armed 
vessels,  known  as  privateers,  shall  be  exchanged  upon  the  conditions 
and  terms  following  : 

Prisoners  to  be  exchanged  man  for  man  ami  officer  for  officer  ; 
privateers  to  be  placed  upon  the  footing  of  officers  and  men  of  the 
navy. 

i  and  officers  of  lower  grades,  may  be  exchanged  for  officers  of 
men  and  officers  of  different  services,  may  be  ex- 
o  irdin  allowing  scale  of  equivalents. 

ral  commanding  in  chief,  or  an  admiral,  shall  be  exchu: 
for  officers  of  equal  rank  or  for  sixty  privates  or  common  seamen. 

A  Hag  officer  or  major  general  shall  be  exchanged  for  officers  of 
equal  rank  or  for  forty  privates  or  common  seamen. 

A  commodore,  carrying  a  broad  pennant,  or  a  brigadier  general  shall 
bo  exchanged  for  officers  of  equal  rank  or  twenty  privates  or  common 
seamen. 

A  captain  in  the  navy  or  a  colonel,  shall  be  exchanged  for  officers 
of  equal  rank  or  for  fifteen  privates  or  common  seamen. 

A  lieutenant  colonel  or  a  commander  in  the  navy,   shall  be  ex- 
_'ed  for  officers  of  equal  rank  or  for  ten  privates  or  common  sea- 
men. 

A  lieutenant  commander  or  a  major,  shall  bo  exchange  for  officers 

ual  rank  or  eight  privates  or  common  seamen. 
A  lieutenant  or  a  master  in  the  navy  or  a  captain  in  the  army  or 
marines,  shall  be  exchanged  for  officers  of  equal  rank  or  six  privates 
or  common  teamen. 


148 

Master's  mates  in  the  navy,  or  lieutenants  and  ensigns  in  the  army, 
shall  be  exchanged  for  officers  of  equal  rank  or  four  privates  or  com- 
mon seamen. 

Midshipmen,  warrant  officers  in  the  navy,  masters  of  merchant  ves- 
sels and  commanders  of  privateers,  shall  be  exchanged  for  officers  of 
equal  rank  or  three  privates  or  common  seamen  ;  second  captains, 
lieutenants  or  mates  of  merchant  vessels  or  privateers  and  all  petty 
officer?  in  the  navy  and  all  non-commissioned  officers  in  the  army  or 
marines,  shall  be  severally  exchanged  for  persons  of  equal  rank  or  for 
two  privates  or  common  seamen  ;  and  private  soldiers  or  common  sea 
men,  shall  be  exchanged  for  each  other,  man  for  man. 

Article  2.  Local,  sta,tc,  civil  and  militia  rank  held  by  persons  not 
in  actual  military  service,  will  not  be  recognized  ;  the  basis  of  exchange 
being  the  grade  actually  held 'in  the  naval  and  military  service  of  the 
respective  parties. 

Article  3.  If  citizens  held  by  either  party  on  charges  of  disloy- 
alty or  any  alleged  civil  offence  are  exchanged,  it  shall  only  be  for 
citizens.  Captured  sutlers,  teamsters,  and  all  civilians  in  the  actual 
service  of  either  party  to  be  exchanged  for  persons  in  similar  position. 

Article  4.  All  prisoners  of  war  to  be  discharged  on  parole  in  ten 
days  after  their  capture,  and  the  prisoners  now  held  and  those  here- 
after taken  to  be  tiansported  to  the  points  mutually  agreed  upon,  at 
the  expense  of  the  capturing  party.  The  surplus  prisoners,  not 
exchanged,  shall  not  be  permitted  to  take  up  arras  again,  nor  to  serve 
as  military  police,  or  constabulary  force  in  any  fort,  garrison,  or  fields 
work,  held  by  either  of  the  respective  parties,  nor  as  guards  of 
prisons,  depots,  or  stores,  nor  to  discharge  any  duty  usually  performed 
by  soldiers,  until  exchanged  under  the  provisions  of  this  cartel.  The 
exchange  is  not  to  be  considered  complete  until  the  officer  or  soldier 
exchanged  for  has  been  actually  restored  to  the  lines  to  which  he 
belongs. 

Article  5.  Each  party,  upon  the  discharge  of  prisoners  of  the 
other  party,  is  authorized  to  discharge  an  equal  number  of  their  own 
officers  or  men  from  parole,  furnishing  at  the  same  time  to  the  other 
party  a  list  of  their  prisoners  discharged,  and  of  their  own  officers 
and  men  relieved  from  parole;  thus  enabling  each  party  to  relieve 
from  parole  such  of  their  own  officers  and  men  as  the  party  may 
ch(  ose.  The  lists  thus  mutually  furnished  will  keep  both  parties* 
advised  of  the  true  condition  of  the  exchange  of  prisoners. 

ArticLe  G.  The  stipulations  and  provisions  above  mentioned  to  be 
of  binding  obligation  during  the  continuance  of  the  war,  it  matters 
not  which  party  may  have  the  surplus  of  prisoners,  the  great  princi- 
ples involved  being:  1st.  An  equitable  exchange  of  prisoners,  man 
for  man,  officer  for  officer,  or  officers  of  higher  grade,  exchanged  for 
officers  of  lower  grade,  or  for  privates,  according  to  the  scale  of  equiv- 
alents. 2d.  That  privates  and  officers  and  men  of  different  services 
may  be  exchanged  according  to  the  same  scale  of  equivalents.  3d. 
That  all  prisoners,  of  whatever  arm  of  senvice,  are  to  be  exchanged 
or  paroled  in  ten  days  from  the  time  of  their  capture,  if  it  be  practi- 
cable to  transfer  them  to  their  own  lines  in  that  time  ;  if  not,  as  soon 


149 

thereafter  as  practicable.  4th.  That  no  officer,  soldier,  or  employee 
in  service  of  either  party  is  to  be  considered  as  exchanged  and 
absolved  from  his  parole  until  his  equivalent  has  actually  reached  the 
lines  of  his  friends,  oth.  That  the  parole  forbids  the  performance  of 
field,  garrison,  police,  or  guard,  or  constabulary  duty. 

JOHN  A.  DIX, 

Major  General. 
D.  H.  HILL, 
Major  General,  C.   S.   A. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  ARTICLES. 

Article  7.  All  prisoners  of  war  now  bold  on  cither  side,  and  all 
prisoners  hereafter  taken,  shall  be  sent,  with  all  reasonable  dispatch, 
to  A.  M.  Aiken's,  below  Dutch  Gap,  on  the  James  river,  in  Virginia, 
or  to  Vicksburg,  on  the  Mississippi  river,  in  the  State  of  Mississippi, 
and  there  exchanged,  or  paroled  until  such  exchange  can  be  effected, 
notice  being  previously  given  by  each  party  of  the  number  of  prisoners 
it  will  send,  and  the  time  when  they  will  be  delivered  at  those  points 
respectively  ;  and  in  case  the  vicissitudes  of  war  shall  change  the  mil- 
itary relations  of  the  places  designated  in  this  article  to  the  contend- 
ing parties,  so  as  to  render  the  same  inconvenient  for  the  delivery  and 
exchange  of  prisoners,  other  places,  bearing  as  nearly  as  may  be  the 
present  local  relations  of  said  places  to  the  lines  of  said  parties,  shall 
be,  by  mutual  agreement,  substituted.  But  nothing  in  this  article 
contained  shall  prevent  the  commanders  of  two  opposing  armies  from 
exchanging  prisoners,  or  releasing  them  on  parole,  at  other  points 
mutually  agreed  on  by  said  commanders. 

Articles.  For  the  purpose' of  carrying  into  effect  the  foregoing 
articles  of  agreement,  each  party  will  appoint  two  agents,  to  bo  called 
agents  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
communicate  with  each  other,  by  correspondence  and  otherwise  ;  to 
prepare  the  lists  of  prisoners  ;  to  attend  to  the  delivery  of  the  prisoners 
at  the  place--  agreed  on,  and  to  carry  out  promptly,  effectually,  and  in 
good  faith,  all  the  details  and  provisions  of  the  said  articles  of  agree- 
ment. 

Article.  9.   And  in  case  understanding  shall  arise  in  regard 

to  any  clause  or  stipulation   in  the    foregoing  articles,  it  is  mutually 

I  thai  such  misundei  -  shall  n  rupt  the  release  of 

nera  on  parole,  as  herein  ;  .  but  shall  be  made  the  subject 

of  friendly  explanation,  in  order  that  the  object  of  this  agreement  may 

neither  be  defeated  or  postponed. 

\    DIX, 
\£ajor  General. 
D.  II.  HILL, 
Major  General  C.  S.  A. 


